Sebastian Vettel started the race from pole position,[5] leading into the first corner and for the majority of the race en route to victory.[6] He was not without pressure though, as the Lotus of Kimi Räikkönen climbed the field, having started in eleventh place, and challenged for the lead before finishing second. Räikkönen's teammate Romain Grosjean took the first podium finish of his career by finishing third, after having a strong start and quickly moving into second place by overtaking Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber. Räikkönen passed Grosjean for second place roughly halfway through the race, being on a better tyre strategy. Hamilton started on the front row, but pitstop errors and degrading tyres left him eighth; his McLaren teammate, Jenson Button, retired with two laps remaining.[7]

As a consequence of the race, Sebastian Vettel took the lead in the Drivers' Championship from Lewis Hamilton,[8] he became the fourth driver to top the standings from four races, and also the fourth race winner. Hamilton remained second, four points behind Vettel, whilst Webber jumped in front of Button to move into third with his fourth consecutive fourth place. Webber was just one point behind Hamilton, and Button was only five points behind him; Nico Rosberg was fifth. The Constructors' Championship was now led by Red Bull, who also took the lead from McLaren (who were now nine points behind them). Lotus F1 moved up from sixth to third in the standings after their first podium. Ferrari fell to fourth whilst Mercedes remained fifth.[9]

After using the "endurance circuit" in 2010, the series reverted to using the "Grand Prix" configuration for the 2012 race.[3]

As the 2011 race was cancelled, the teams arrived in Bahrain with no data on how the Pirelli tyres introduced for the 2011 season would behave at the Sakhir circuit.[16] Furthermore, Pirelli revised their tyre compounds for the 2012 season,[17] and with the races in Australia, Malaysia and China being run in cool or wet conditions, there was no data available on how the 2012-specification Pirelli tyres would performance in the hot and dry conditions expected in Bahrain.[18] The teams were supplied with the medium and soft compounds, the same selection that had been provided at the previous race in Shanghai.[18]Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber predicted that the teams who understood the behaviour of the tyres first would be the most successful in the race.[16]Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg — who won his first race in China one week prior to the race — supported this prediction, suggesting that understanding tyre behaviour would be a recurring theme throughout the season, and critical to the championship.[19] Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery predicted that teams would experience a high rate of tyre degradation, and that sand on the circuit surface could cause graining on the tyres.[20]

Similarly, the Drag Reduction System (DRS) was introduced for the 2011 season, and consequently had never been used at the Bahrain International Circuit in a race. Race officials elected to place it on the start-finish straight to allow for overtaking into the first corner complex,[18] the DRS detection point was positioned 108 metres (354 ft) from the apex to Turn 14, with the activation point located 270 metres (890 ft) after the final corner, creating a DRS zone of 820 metres (0.51 mi).[21]

Williams driver Pastor Maldonado was given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change when the team discovered an undiagnosed fault in his gearbox and they were forced to replace it.[22] Under Formula One regulations, a gearbox must be used for five consecutive events (including the race, qualifying session and third practice session for each event). An unscheduled gearbox change results in an automatic five-place grid penalty, applied after the qualifying session. Maldonado became the fourth driver of the 2012 season to receive a gearbox penalty, after Sergio Pérez, Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton all made similar changes in Australia, Malaysia and China.[23][24][25]

Valtteri Bottas replaced Bruno Senna at Williams for the first practice session.[26] It was Bottas' third session, of a scheduled fifteen, driving Senna's car.[27] Bottas was the only reserve driver to take part in a practice session.

The first ninety-minute practice session began with the drivers performing installation laps, returning to pit lane before setting a lap time so as to work on the car setup, the majority of drivers completed the session using the harder "prime" tyres, while several teams — including Ferrari and Lotus — used the session to test new aerodynamic configurations to their front and rear wings. The surface of the circuit was visibly sandy, owing to a lack of use in the two years prior to the event. Force India's Nico Hülkenberg was the first driver to record a lap time, twenty minutes into the session. Romain Grosjean moved to the top of the timing sheets as the majority of drivers began to emerge from the pit lane for timed runs, though the difference between Grosjean's time and Hülkenberg's was negligible. Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel both improved upon the fastest times, but by the time every driver had recorded a timed lap, it was Lewis Hamilton who posted the fastest time. Hamilton's time of 1:33.572 went unchallenged for the remainder of the session. Vettel was second-fastest, three tenths behind the McLaren driver, while Paul di Resta in the second Force India was third, having switched to the softer "option" tyres in the last ten minutes.[28][29]

Force India chose not to take part in the second free practice session.

With Force India electing not to take part in the second session over security concerns,[30] twenty-two cars took to the circuit for Friday's second ninety-minute practice session. A GP2 practice session between the first and second Formula One sessions meant that some of the sand on the surface of the circuit was cleaned up,[31] and teams began their first runs on the softer option compound of tyres. Narain Karthikeyan was the first driver out, setting a lap time of 1:41.710 almost straight away. Several other drivers, including Jean-Éric Vergne, Vitaly Petrov, Pastor Maldonado, Timo Glock and Daniel Ricciardo also emerged, setting lap times within the first five minutes of the session starting. After the initial rush of the first fifteen minutes, Jenson Button emerged as the fastest man on the circuit before being surpassed by Mark Webber moments later. Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg all led the field by the halfway point, but it was Rosberg who led the way into the final ten minutes of the session when all twenty-two cars were out on the circuit together. Rosberg's time of 1:32.816 was enough to see him through to the end of the session in front, four-tenths of a second faster than Webber, with Vettel third.[32] After finishing in front in the first session, Lewis Hamilton was fourth, while Bruno Senna — back in his car after being replaced by Bottas in the first session — ended the session in eighteenth, behind the Caterham of Heikki Kovalainen and narrowly ahead of Marussia driver Timo Glock.[33]

The third and final practice session took place on Saturday morning, three hours before qualifying, and sixty minutes in length. A localised sandstorm nearby meant that the air around the circuit was dusty, but a westerly wind pushed the dusty cloud away from the circuit as the session wore on. Jean-Éric Vergne was the first driver to leave the pits, leading a group of fourteen, but they returned to the lane immediately; with the cars being switched to race specification the night before, further installation laps were needed. Paul di Resta was the first driver to record a lap time, a 1:41.356, set ten minutes into the session. He was followed closely by teammate Nico Hülkenberg, with both drivers following an extensive testing program, having missed the second free practice session; after one hour, they had completed forty-three laps between them. Nico Rosberg once again finished the session fastest with a time of 1:33.254. Vettel and Webber were second and third, with Hamilton fourth.[34]

Formula One qualifying uses a three-stage "knockout" system. Qualifying takes place over the course of one hour, broken up into three periods known as Q1, Q2 and Q3. Q1 is twenty minutes long, and sees all twenty-four drivers take part, at the end of the twenty-minute session, the seven slowest drivers are eliminated, filling positions eighteen to twenty-four on the grid. After a short break, the drivers' times are reset and the second session — Q2 — begins. Q2 is fifteen minutes long, and is contested by the remaining seventeen drivers, after the fifteen-minute session has passed, the slowest seven drivers are once again eliminated, filling positions eleven to seventeen on the grid. This leaves the ten fastest drivers to contest the final qualifying period, Q3. Q3 is ten minutes long, and sets positions one through to ten on the grid. Drivers who contest Q3 must start the race on the set of tyres that they recorded their fastest lap time with. Drivers who are eliminated in Q1 and Q2 are free to start the race on any set of tyres they choose. Any relevant penalties from the previous race or current race weekend are applied after the completion of the three qualifying periods.

In order to take part in the race, a driver must set a time within 107% of the fastest lap time in Q1, for example, if the fastest time in Q1 is one minute, forty seconds, then a driver must set a time faster than one minute and forty-seven seconds to qualify for the race.

Qualifying started at 1400 local time, with the track surface measuring 43 °C (109 °F) and a headwind down the main straight.

The first period saw two distinct, informal phases. Most drivers recorded a "banker" lap on the harder prime tyres, so as to have a benchmark time to their name, some drivers, most notably Fernando Alonso, chose to set their first lap on the softer option tyres so as to preserve an extra set of tyres for the race given the high rate of degradation. The session ran for the full twenty minutes without interruption, though Nico Rosberg ran wide at Turn 5 and passed through a gravel trap, while Kimi Räikkönen was observed violently hitting a kerb.

Toro Rosso driver Jean-Éric Vergne spent most of the period facing the threat of elimination, even though he was as high up the order as sixth at one point, after putting on the softer tyres. However, as the second phase of the session began, the drivers switched to the softer tyres and the order changed rapidly. Vergne fell back down the order and was ultimately eliminated, it was the third consecutive Grand Prix in which he was eliminated in Q1.[35] He was later cited by the stewards for missing the weighbridge at the end of the qualifying period. Michael Schumacher was hampered by a problem with the DRS flap in his rear wing,[36] and a late lap from Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen saw Schumacher eliminated and Kovalainen advance through to Q2. It was just the second time that Kovalianen and his team had qualified in Q2 while running in dry conditions (the other being the 2011 Spanish Grand Prix). Kovalainen's team mate, Vitaly Petrov, was eliminated after his final lap was not enough to replicate Kovalainen's feat.

Also eliminated were the Marussias for Timo Glock and Charles Pic. Pic finished twenty-first, out-qualifying teammate Glock for the first time in his career. Glock set an early time on the harder compound tyres, but a mistake on his flying lap with the softer compound meant that he qualified twenty-third of twenty-four cars,[36] the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan finished in twenty-second and twenty-fourth; both were inside the 107% margin (1:40.380), but they were still four seconds off the pace of Sergio Pérez, the fastest man in Q1.

Heikki Kovalainen qualified sixteenth, the first time he reached Q2 in the 2012 season.

The seventeen remaining drivers went straight out onto the softer tyres for Q2, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg quickly establishing themselves at the top of the timing charts, as the session wore on, the track became "faster"; more rubber from the tyres was laid down on the racing line — the shortest, fastest and most ideal way through a corner — allowing the drivers to find more grip, and therefore more speed, producing a faster lap time.[35]

Late in the session Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 world champion, was eliminated by teammate Romain Grosjean. Räikkönen's first lap time initially looked to be enough to see him through to Q3, but Grosjean's final lap was quick enough to see the 2011 GP2 Series champion through to the third and final period for the fourth time in as many races; conversely, Felipe Massa missed the Q3 cut-off for the fourth race in succession.

Like Räikkönen, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi was also a victim of his teammate's final flying lap; having set the fastest lap time in Q1, Sergio Pérez progressed to Q3. Paul di Resta also advanced to Q3 despite missing the second free practice session, though teammate Nico Hülkenberg was not quick enough and missed the cut-off. Meanwhile, Bruno Senna's final lap was marked by sector times that suggested he would also advance to Q3, but a mistake at Turn 13 cost him dearly, and he had to settle for fifteenth overall.

Heikki Kovalainen only nominated to set a single lap time at the end of the period. Unable to challenge the other teams in terms of raw pace, Kovalainen finished the period in sixteenth after Pastor Maldonado was stricken by a KERS issue, and failed to set a lap time, this left him seventeenth overall; with his five-place penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change,[22] he would start the race in twenty-second.

Eight different teams were represented in the final qualifying period,[35] the McLarens of Hamilton and Button, and the Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber each set two times during the period; of the remaining six, four set a lap time. Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta elected not to complete timed laps. Having used all three sets of the soft tyres allocated to them for the qualifying session, they had no fresh sets of tyres left over and decided to preserve their tyres for the race. Alonso took to the circuit for a sighting lap, automatically giving him a higher grid position than any driver who remained in the pits, as a result, Alonso and di Resta qualified ninth and tenth overall. However, as they had not set times, they would be free to start the race on whatever set of tyres they chose to.

Sebastian Vettel qualified on pole position, his and his team's first since the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix. Vettel's lap time of 1:32.422 was just two-tenths of a second faster than his Q2 time of 1:32.474, which he recorded at the 2009,[37] the last time Formula One used the "Grand Prix" configuration of the Bahrain circuit; prior to the ban on refuelling introduced for the 2010 season,[38][39] cars were required completed Q3 with a full tank of fuel. This led to a trend in which the fastest time of the weekend was set in Q2 as drivers were allowed to set lap times with as little fuel in the car possible, although Jarno Trulli qualified on pole for the 2009 race, Vettel's Q2 time was a second faster.[37] With the ban on refuelling in place since 2010, drivers are now able to complete Q3 in a low-fuel configuration, making Vettel's time a more-appropriate benchmark for comparison purposes.

By the end of the session, just half of a second covered the top five runners. Vettel led Lewis Hamilton, with Mark Webber in third. Webber's first timed lap was marked by an incident at Turn 10 where he locked the front wheel up, dragging it across the surface of the circuit, and costing him time. Jenson Button finished fourth, once again out-qualified by teammate Hamilton. Nico Rosberg, who qualified on pole in Shanghai one week previously, was fifth. Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean finished sixth and seventh, with both drivers only completing one timed lap. Ricciardo was just one-tenth of a second ahead of Grosjean, and one-tenth behind Rosberg. Initial speculation at the start of the period suggested that Sergio Pérez would not set a lap time, but the Mexican driver took to the circuit and finished eighth overall.

Pastor Maldonado's grid penalty meant that he would start the race in twenty-second position.[5]Michael Schumacher was also given a gearbox penalty, demoting him to twenty-second position.[40] By virtue of this, Maldonado was promoted to twenty-first position.[41]

Jean-Éric Vergne was given a reprimand by the stewards for missing the weighbridge after qualifying.[42]

Shortly after qualifying ended, speculation in the media suggested that Force India had received no coverage during the broadcast as punishment for withdrawing from the second free practice session,[43] the speculation began after Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle remarked that the cameras had not shown Paul di Resta's final lap in Q2, which saw him enter the final qualifying period. The team refused to be drawn into debate over the speculation, though di Resta commented that "I saw my car".[44] Bernie Ecclestone explained the team's lack of coverage as the television director wanting to concentrate on the pole sitter "rather than somebody who was going to be tenth".[44]

The race was the first of 10 (including all the European races and Singapore) this season to begin at 12:00 UTC (15:00 local) in a much more European friendly viewing time, it started under warm cloudy conditions with an ambient temperature of 27 °C (81 °F) and a track temperature of 32 °C (90 °F). Since Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta did not set a time in Q3 they, along with the 14 drivers behind them, could start on either the soft 'option' tyre or the medium 'prime' tyre. All but Kamui Kobayashi opted to start on the soft compound yellow banded tyre.

As the red lights went out it was the drivers on the 'clean' driving line of the grid that mostly got the better start, especially towards the front half of the grid, the top three drivers from qualifying all held their position as Sebastian Vettel led into the first corner. Mark Webber did not have KERS for the first lap and lost any opportunity to gain on Lewis Hamilton in second.[45]Romain Grosjean, Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen all made great starts compared to the drivers on the dirty (and presumably sandy) side of the grid while Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who started from his best ever qualifying position (6th), made a terrible start as the big name teams overtook him and left him 11th after the first corner. Jenson Button slipped to 6th by turn one, Bruno Senna was up to 10th from 15th while his teammate Pastor Maldonado was 15th after lap 1 following his gearbox penalty which forced him to start from 21st position. The end of lap one saw the drivers move into single file while at the front Vettel led by more than two seconds. Heikki Kovalainen pitted after the first lap as he punctured his left rear tyre in an incident not clearly shown on television; there appeared to be some contact near turn 10 where Ricciardo hit Kovalainen perhaps puncturing his tyre while Ricciardo lost some bodywork from the car resulting in a damaged front wing.

On the start of lap 3 Felipe Massa made a move down the inside of Räikkönen for 7th, they were side-by-side through turn 1 and 2 when Räikkönen yielded the position. At the start of lap 4, Grosjean was the first to use the DRS successfully on Webber when he took 3rd place with ease through turn 1, during the fifth lap, Räikkönen re-took 7th as Massa went deep into turn 4 and this resulted in Räikkönen gaining better traction through the 'S' turns (turns 5-7) squeezing Massa behind him. In the early stages it was Romain Grosjean who had fast race pace and on lap 7 he again overtook using DRS, this time Hamilton was his victim. Lotus teammate Räikkönen was also putting in comparatively quick lap times and overtook Button around the outside prior to turn 4. Further down the field, Maldonado in the Williams was overtaken by a DRS assisted Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne only to grab Vergne's slipstream and retake the position while Vergne still had his DRS wing open.

Lap 8 confirmed that Ricciardo had damaged his front wing when he pitted to switch to the medium tyre and swap his damaged front wing for a new one. Button complained on the radio about his rear tyres losing performance while the Lotus looked very strong as Räikkönen again put the DRS to good use and claimed Alonso on the 9th lap for 5th position. Button, Massa and Nico Rosberg all pitted together with Button coming out into 'clean air' however Rosberg and Massa rejoined behind a Marussia, the next lap saw Hamilton, Webber, and Alonso all pit together in that order but Hamilton had a problem with the left rear and was stopped for nearly ten seconds forcing a slow pit time of 28.341 seconds, dropping him behind Alonso, Button and Rosberg. Compounding Hamilton's problems, on the straight before turn 4 Rosberg desperately forced Hamilton wide and off-road but could not hold Hamilton back from taking the position, the incident was to be looked at after the race. Replays showed Hamilton's disappointment as he shook his head while waiting to be released.

The leader, Vettel, pitted and left the Paul di Resta (who had not yet pitted) in the lead - the first time a Force India has led a lap since the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix when Giancarlo Fisichella was driving for them. By lap 15 all the cars had made at least one stop, at this stage, Vettel led the Lotus cars followed by teammate Webber and the Button-led McLarens. Alonso, Rosberg, Massa and Pérez rounded out the top 10 while 7 time world champion Michael Schumacher was in 13th - still clawing his way back into points contention.

Lap 21 saw Räikkönen and Rosberg the only drivers in the top 9 on the soft compound after both saving a set during qualifying, during the same lap, Maldonando used DRS to put a move on Pérez, however went deep and the two duelled to turn 4 when di Resta who was behind them pounced through the inside as they battled each wide of the apex. Crucially, Räikkönen on softs had caught his teammate and was right behind him but was not able to overtake him, even with the DRS, it appeared the Lotus' were equally matched and Räikkönen was starting to lose grip from either following the dirty air of his teammate or his tyres were hitting the 'cliff' (performance-wise) or both. Eventually Räikkönen passed his teammate using the DRS but "was it too late?" the commentators questioned.

Lap 23 saw Webber, Alonso and Hamilton all pit again and yet again Hamilton had a problem with his left rear leaving him stationary for a mammoth 12.2 seconds while his pit time hit 30.622 seconds. Hamilton had an identical problem from the first pit stop with his left rear wheel nut not working properly, for the second time in the race Rosberg forced someone wide and off-road in the straight before turn 4, this time Alonso was his victim. Alonso was very vocal on the radio on Rosberg's actions which saw the stewards again decide to look at the incident after the race and not during it. Lap 25 saw Maldonado behind the duelling Rosberg and Alonso obtain a left rear puncture which sent him into a 360 degree spin and forced him to retire.

Vettel crossed the line in first place to take his first victory of the season

Lap 31 saw Vettel lead from the two Lotus cars and Webber. By this stage it was clear that di Resta was on a two-stop strategy along with Sauber's Kobayshi. Räikkönen also started to catch leader Vettel and was within the DRS zone on lap 33. Vettel was told on his radio to dig deep and find some pace to defend with. Räikkönen moved ever closer to Vettel and on lap 36 attempted an overtake down the inside but then under braking switched to the outside unsuccessfully. Vettel was told "push to pass" meaning he was able to use his maximum 18,000rpm down the main straight to defend against Räikkönen and his DRS. Presumably Vettel had been shifting gear at under the permitted 18,000rpm limit in a bid to save fuel, as consequently Vettel stopped right after the completion of the race at the pit exit.

Romain Grosjean finished third to take his first podium in F1

Lap 39 saw Hamilton set the fastest lap at the time from 10th position, it also saw the last round of pit stops from leader Vettel, Räikkönen and Red Bull driver Webber. Backmarkers were now starting to be lapped, some for the second occasion of the race, after the pit stops, where both Vettel and Räikkönen both chose medium tyres, the gap that between them was under a second was out to more than three seconds. All of the top 10 were now on the preferred medium compound.

Räikkönen was told on lap 46 that they expect to catch Vettel at the end because of Vettel's predicted higher tyre degradation. Kobayshi was in 11th on a two-stop strategy but was lapping nearly two-seconds slower than his rivals and thus pitted for a third time on lap 50. Räikkönen briefly fought back to trail the leader by less than three seconds, but then slipped back to the previous three-second plus margin. Rosberg caught di Resta in 5th as the Scotsman started to lose tyre performance. A desperate di Resta was told via team radio to use a double KERS boost on the start/finish straight, meaning to use his remaining KERS out of the final corner and also to use his new KERS that gets reset when crossing the start/finish line. Finally, the Mercedes of Rosberg managed to pass the Force India and quickly pushed ahead. Di Resta, now in 6th, now found himself under pressure from Button after losing four seconds in three laps. Amazingly lucky for di Resta, just as Button was in the DRS zone and would most likely pass the Scotsman, Button developed a left rear puncture and pitted immediately leaving di Resta in 6th place and Button out of points contention in 12th.

Senna retired with three laps to go making it a double retirement for the Williams team. Nico Rosberg had a broken exhaust for some time but was told not worry by the team during lap 56, on the same lap Button had a worrying sound come from his McLaren-Mercedes engine and was forced to retire from the race. Going into the final lap, the double world champion led with Räikkönen, Grosjean and Webber a cut above the other drivers. Crossing the line Vettel claimed his 17th victory starting from pole position and his 22nd overall, it was also the first win for both Vettel and Red Bull for the 2012 season. His engineer told him to stop at the pit exit instead of completing a victory lap most likely due to low fuel, the two Lotus cars were next to cross the line with Räikkönen (2nd) achieving his first podium since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix where he drove for Scuderia Ferrari. Romain Grosjean finished third which was his best ever result in Formula One, surpassing his previous best of 6th place from last round, with his podium, Grosjean was also the first Frenchman to reach podium in almost 14 years (Jean Alesi in 1998 was the last time it occurred). Red Bull teammate Mark Webber finished 4th for the fourth consecutive time this season leaving him as clearly the most consistent driver of the 2012 championship so far.

Some 55 seconds from the lead was Nico Rosberg who was lucky not to get penalised by the stewards for dangerous driving. Di Resta managed to hold off the Ferrari of Alonso by less than 0.3 of a second and made his two-stop strategy work effectively to claim 6th place and equal his best ever Formula One result (2011 Singapore Grand Prix). Alonso later said that it was a "shame that I was missing one more straight to get past Di Resta in the end".[45] Hamilton, who lost around fifteen seconds through wasted pit stop time, was a disappointing 8th; while behind him Felipe Massa picked up his first points of the year by finishing 9th. Further back was Schumacher who did well to claim the final point after starting from the 22nd grid position. Both Sauber and Scuderia Toro Rosso lacked race pace and were out of the points meanwhile at the back the Caterham F1 team performed the best of the bottom three teams.

In four races the 2012 Formula One championship has had four different points leaders and four different winners, highlighting the unpredictability of this year's field.

The event took place between the 20–22 April where throughout the weekend there was a range of support events. Taking part in the 2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix program was the first round of the 2012 Porsche Supercup season (2 races); the second round of the 2012 GP2 Series (1 feature race, 1 sprint race); and the WGA Supercars ME Championship (two 7 lap races).[46]

^1 — Pastor Maldonado was given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.[22]

^2 — Michael Schumacher was also given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.[40] The penalty demoted him to twenty-second, moving Pastor Maldonado up one place.

^3 — Both Fernando Alonso and Paul di Resta did not complete a timed lap - only commencing exploratory laps (Alonso with the faster sector times). This was due to tactical reasons in regards to tyre preservation for the race.[47]

2012 Bahrain Grand Prix protests
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The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix returned to Bahrain after the 2011 race was cancelled due to ongoing anti-government protests. The decision to hold the race despite ongoing protests and violence has been described as controversial by Al Jazeera English, CNN, AFP, the Independent named it one of the most controversial in the history of the sport. The 20

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Protesters holding anti-F1 signs during a protest on 20 April.

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Anti-F1 graffiti in Barbar village

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Events

Bahrain
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Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. Bahrains population is 1,234,567, including 666,172 non-nationals and it is 780 km2 in size, making it the third smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation and it has been famed since antiqu

4.
A photograph of the First Oil Well in Bahrain, with oil first being extracted in 1931

2012 Formula One season
–
The 2012 Formula One season was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March, the 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in

Bahrain International Circuit
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The Bahrain International Circuit is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 Series and the annual Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2004 Grand Prix was the first held in the Middle East, beginning in 2006, Australian V8 Supercars raced at the BIC, with the event known as the Desert 400. However, the V8 Supercars did not return for th

Pole position
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The game was designed by Tōru Iwatani, who had also designed the Gee Bee games and Pac-Man. It was the most popular arcade game of 1983. Pole Position was released in two configurations, an upright cabinet, and an environmental/cockpit cabinet. By 1983, it had become the highest-grossing arcade game that year in North America and it was the most su

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Arcade flyer

Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular

Sebastian Vettel
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Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is a four-time Formula One World Champion, having won the championship in 2010,2011,2012 and 2013 with Red Bull Racing and he is among the most successful F1 drivers of all time. He is one of four drivers to have won four or more drivers titles. He

Red Bull Racing
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Red Bull Racing is an Austrian Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England. It is one of two F1 teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH, the other being Scuderia Toro Rosso, the team won four successive Constructors Championship titles, in 2010,2011,2012, and 2013, becoming the first Austrian licensed team to win the title. The te

1.
Red Bull's involvement in Formula One dates back to 1995, when it first sponsored the Sauber team.

Renault in Formula One
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Renault are currently involved in Formula One as a constructor, under the name of Renault Sport Formula One Team. They have been associated with Formula One as both constructor and engine supplier for various periods since 1977, in 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in its first car,

1.
Renault 1.5 litre turbo engine

2.
In 1979, the Renault RS10 became the first turbocharged car to win a Grand Prix.

Podium
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A podium is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι, in architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many public speakers. Common parlance has shown a use of podium in Ame

2.
A podium with (from left to right) the second-place finisher, the winner and the third-place finisher of a sport competition.

Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in th

3.
Now lying within Helsinki, Suomenlinna is a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site consisting of an inhabited 18th century sea fortress built on six islands. It is one of Finland's most popular tourist attractions.

Lotus F1
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Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from 2012 until 2015, Lotus F1 Team was majority owned by Genii Capital and later the French car manufacturer Renault. Lotus F1 Team was named after its branding partner Group Lotus, the team achieved a race victory and fourth position in the Formula One Con

France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territ

1.
One of the Lascaux paintings: a horse – Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC

Romain Grosjean
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Romain Grosjean is a racing driver, currently racing for the Haas F1 Team. He races under the French flag in Formula One although he was born in Geneva and he dominated the 2005 French Formula Renault championship at his first attempt and joined the Renault young driver programme. He was the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series drivers champion, in 2008 he b

Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Gr

2011 Bahrain Grand Prix
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The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was scheduled to be the opening round of the 2011 Formula One season. Planned to be held on 13 March 2011 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on 3 June, it was announced that the race would be held on 30 October, thus making it round 17 of the 20 to be held during 2011. Following controversy over the

Bahrain Grand Prix
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The Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One Championship race in Bahrain sponsored by Gulf Air. The first race took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004 and it made history as the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East, and was given the award for the Best Organised Grand Prix by the FIA. The Bahrain Grand Prix

1.
Bahrain Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. A three-time Formula One World Champion, he is regarded by fellow and he won his first title with McLaren in 2008 before moving to Mercedes, where he won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. In December 1995,

1.
Hamilton in Germany, October 2014

2.
Anthony Hamilton, Lewis' father, celebrating with his son after the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. From this point until March 2010, Anthony Hamilton was the driver's manager.

Mark Webber
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After some racing success in Australia driving Formula Ford and Formula Holden, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. He also beat future F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, then 19, Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardis first points in three years at his and Stoddarts home race. After his

McLaren
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McLaren Racing Limited, competing as McLaren Honda, is a British Formula One team based at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has competed in and won the Indianapolis 500. The team is the second oldest active team after Ferrari and they are one of the most successful teams

4.
Five years after his first retirement, Lauda won his third title driving a McLaren MP4/2.

Jenson Button
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Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British racing driver currently under contract with McLaren-Honda, as a reserve driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship, driving for Brawn GP, Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the Br

Nico Rosberg
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Nico Erik Rosberg is a German former Formula One racing driver and current Formula One World Champion who drove for Williams F1 and Mercedes AMG Petronas under the German flag. Born in Germany to Finnish former world champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina, he holds dual nationality, although reported to be fluent in five languages, he does

1.
Rosberg in 2015

2.
Rosberg won the 2002 German Formula BMW championship, an important milestone in his racing career.

Scuderia Ferrari
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Scuderia Ferrari S. p. A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, and competes in Formula One racing. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, the team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Fer

Mercedes-Benz in Formula One
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Mercedes-Benz is currently involved in Formula One, running Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, a Formula One racing team, based in Brackley, United Kingdom, using a German licence. Mercedes-Benz had competed in the pre-war European Championship winning three titles, and debuted in Formula One in 1954, running a team for two years. After winning thei

Al Jazeera English
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Al Jazeera English is an international state-funded 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel owned and operated by Al Jazeera Media Network, which is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is a channel of the Bosnia and Herzegovina-based multi-language Al Jazeera Balkans, the online digital networks AJ+ and Al Jazeera Turk. Al Jazeera

CNN
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The Cable News Network is an American basic cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel, upon its launch, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the f

Agence France-Presse
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Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1944, AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, after the Associated Press, journalists of the French Resistance established the AFP in the headquarters of the former Office Français dInformation, a Vichy news agency, following the liberation of

Sky News
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Sky News is a 24-hour international multimedia news company based in the U. K. Originally a 24-hour television news channel, Sky News currently provides news on television, online, John Ryley is the Head of Sky News, a role he has held since June 2006. Other versions of Sky News are operated as joint-ventures and these include Sky News Australia an

1.
Sky News Celebrated its 20th Birthday On 5 February 2009

2.
Sky News HD graphics

3.
General Election 2010 graphics on Sky News HD

4.
The most recent graphics style on Sky News.

The Independent
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The Independent is a British online newspaper. The printed edition of the paper ceased in March 2016, nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet newspaper, but changed to tabloid format in 2003. Until September 2011, the paper described itself on the banner at the top of every newspaper as free from party political bias and it tends to take a pro

1.
The Independent front page, 15 February 2014

2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
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The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 March 2010 at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the seventh Bahrain Grand Prix and the round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was the first time since 2006 that Bahrain had hosted the opening round, the race was won by Fernando Alonso, his first as a Ferr

Pirelli
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SpA is a multinational company based in Milan, Italy, formerly listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922. It was acquired in 2015 by ChemChina, the company is one of the largest tyre manufacturers behind Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear. It is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites in 14 countries, Pirelli has

1.
Pirelli headquarters

2012 Australian Grand Prix
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The 2012 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 March 2012 as the opening round of the 2012 Formula One season. The 58-lap race was won by McLaren driver Jenson Button who took his victory at the Albert Park Circuit. Reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel, driving for Red Bull Racing, finished in place, while polesit

1.
Mark Webber came into his home Grand Prix hoping to finish higher than his personal best of fifth place.

2.
2012 Australian Grand Prix

3.
Marussia had not run either of their cars prior to the season; Charles Pic (pictured) made his first Formula One start in Australia.

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix
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The 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2012 at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia. It was the running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the round of the 2012 Formula One season and was won by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Sergi

2012 Chinese Grand Prix
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The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. It was the running of the Chinese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the round of the 2012 Formula One season. Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Pr

Shanghai International Circuit
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The Shanghai International Circuit is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, the 2008 MotoGP race was the last one on this circuit, as the FIM didnt select the racetrack for the provisional calendar of 2009. This is du

1.
Exterior of main grandstand

2.
Shanghai International Circuit

3.
View from the main grandstand

4.
Grandstand H & K

Drag Reduction System
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The Drag Reduction System is a form of driver-adjustable bodywork aimed at reducing aerodynamic drag in order to increase top speed and promote overtaking in motor racing. It is a rear wing of the car, which moves in response to driver commands. DRS often comes with conditions, such as the car must be within a second for DRS to be activated. DRS wa

1.
DRS in action: open above, closed below

Williams F1
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Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Martini Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and is run by team owner Sir Frank Williams, the team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams two earlier unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Wolf-Will

Pastor Maldonado
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Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams and Lotus teams. Before entering Formula One, he won the 2010 GP2 Series championship and he became the first Venezuelan to win a Formula One Grand Prix when he won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, for Williams, from his first pole position. Born i

Formula One regulations
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The numerous Formula One regulations, made and enforced by the FIA and later the FISA, have changed dramatically since the first Formula One World Championship in 1950. This article covers the current state of F1 technical and sporting regulations, wider cars from 180cm to 200cm and wider tires and more aerodynamic pressure to the ground expecting

1.
F1 start lights as seen by television viewers (camera facing drivers)

2.
All possible F1 start lights as seen by driver. Not all lights are on at any time

Valtteri Bottas
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Valtteri Bottas is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes. Bottas previously drove for Williams from 2013 to 2016 and his current best career achievement was in 2014 when he finished 4th in the Formula One World Championship. Born in Nastola, Finland, Bottas finished eighth in the 2005 Karting World Cup for the P.

Bruno Senna
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Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian professional racing driver currently racing for Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion, Senna raced in Formula One from 2010–12. He made his driving for Hispania Racing in 2010, raced for Renault from August 2011 as a rep

Force India
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The Sahara Force India F1 Team is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, Force India scored points again in the following race when Adrian Sutil finished fourth, and set the teams first fastest lap, at the I

Paul di Resta
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Paul di Resta is a British racing driver who drove in Formula One from 2010 to 2013 and became a reserve driver for the Williams F1 team in 2016. A former DTM and Formula 3 Euroseries champion, di Resta did not secure a Formula One drive for 2014, di Resta was born in Uphall, Livingston, Scotland, and grew up in Bathgate, West Lothian, and went to

GP2 Series
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The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, in 2010 the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series. In the 2017 the series was rebranded a

1.
GP2 Series

Narain Karthikeyan
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Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan is a racing driver who was the first Formula One driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series and he made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team, and was a Williams F1 test driver in 2006 and 2007. Like several other former F1 drivers, Karthikeyan moved to car racing. In 2011

Vitaly Petrov
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Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Caterham in 2012 and Renault in 2010 and 2011. Born in Vyborg, he is known as the Vyborg Rocket in Russia and he was the first Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship. Unlike most top drivers, Petrov did not begin his career in karting and he

Timo Glock
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Timo Glock is a German BMW factory racing driver, who previously drove in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers Championship in both 2008 and 2009, scoring three podium finishes, born in Lindenfels, West Germany, Glock began his motorsport career in 1998 at the age of 15. He won sev

Daniel Ricciardo
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Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. He won the British Formula 3 Championship in 2009, after Mark Webber announced his retirement from Formula One, Ricciardo was confirmed as his replacement at Red Bull Racing for 2014. In his first season with Red Bull, Ricciardo finished t

Michael Schumacher
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Michael Schumacher is a German retired racing driver. He is a seven-time Formula One World Champion and is regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year twice and he won two titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before moving to Ferrari where he drove for eleven years. His time wit

1.
2012 Bahrain Grand Prix protests
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The 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix returned to Bahrain after the 2011 race was cancelled due to ongoing anti-government protests. The decision to hold the race despite ongoing protests and violence has been described as controversial by Al Jazeera English, CNN, AFP, the Independent named it one of the most controversial in the history of the sport. The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled due to civil unrest on 21 February 2011 at the request of Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the event was originally given a November date so as to allow for stability to return to the country. A second provisional calendar was released in July, with the Bahrain Grand Prix brought forward to 22 April and this was later confirmed with the release of the final season calendar in December 2011. With pre-season testing for the 2012 season starting in February 2012, however, Hill changed his stance just two weeks later, stating that the race could create more problems than it solved. He elaborated further, cautioning against indifference and urging the sport not to take political sides, fellow former World Champion Jackie Stewart expressed his support for the race taking place, warning that cancelling the Grand Prix could be even more damaging to the sport than holding it. In January 2012, human groups in the country urged teams to boycott the 2012 race amid ongoing conflict in the country. They further added they could not guarantee the safety of teams, drivers, World Drivers Champions Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher also supported the race going ahead. On 28 March 2012, Ecclestone confirmed the event would go ahead, four days later, protesters revived their campaign against the race, with police breaking up demonstrations in Abu Saiba and Tubli. Activists also turned to Twitter in an effort to see the event cancelled, following the anti-race protests, Ecclestone admitted he had no power to force the teams into racing in Bahrain if they did not want to. And I think that would be unacceptable, both for F1 and for Bahrain, but I dont see any other way they can do it. On 13 April, the FIA released a statement concluding it was satisfied with the state of affairs in Bahrain, following a meeting between the teams and Ecclestone in Shanghai, the teams declared themselves to be happy with the decision to hold the race. When asked about the UNIF1ED campaign, Jean Todt avoided the question, journalists reporting on the conflict passed the opinion that the UNIF1ED campaign had failed to present the country as united, and instead had the opposite effect. The Labour Party also appealed directly to British drivers Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper openly called for the race to be cancelled. While not explicitly referencing the Grand Prix, the White House condemned the violence on both sides of the conflict, on 19 April, it emerged that several sponsors, including Royal Dutch Shell, Vodafone and UBS, would not be using the race to entertain clients and partners. Corporate hospitality agencies also withdrew from the event, with some experiencing a downturn in business of up to eighty percent, FIA President Jean Todt maintained his stance that the country was secure, and was quoted as saying it is clear the Grand Prix can go ahead. There has been controversy about it but the FIA is a sports organisation. We are only interested in sport, not politics, the first team members arrived in Bahrain on 17 April amid reports that sixty Shiite protest leaders had been arrested ahead of the race

2.
Bahrain
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Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small Arab monarchy in the Persian Gulf. Bahrains population is 1,234,567, including 666,172 non-nationals and it is 780 km2 in size, making it the third smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation and it has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries, which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam, following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was occupied by the Portuguese in 1521, who in turn were expelled in 1602 by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and it has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family, in the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British, Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Formerly a state, Bahrain was declared a Kingdom in 2002, in 2011, the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring. Bahrain had the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, since the late 20th century, Bahrain has invested in the banking and tourism sectors. Many large financial institutions have a presence in Manama, the countrys capital, Bahrain has a high Human Development Index and was recognised by the World Bank as a high income economy. In Arabic, Bahrayn is the form of bahr, so al-Bahrayn means the two seas, although which two seas were originally intended remains in dispute. The term appears five times in the Quran, but does not refer to the modern island—originally known to the Arabs as Awal— but rather to all of Eastern Arabia. Today, Bahrains two seas are generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island. In addition to wells, there are areas of the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the water as noted by visitors since antiquity. An alternate theory with regard to Bahrains toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, another supposition by al-Jawahari suggests that the more formal name Bahri would have been misunderstood and so was opted against. Until the late Middle Ages, Bahrain referred to the region of Eastern Arabia that included Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, the region stretched from Basra in Iraq to the Strait of Hormuz in Oman. This was Iqlīm al-Bahrayns Bahrayn Province, the exact date at which the term Bahrain began to refer solely to the Awal archipelago is unknown. The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as Bahrain for a millennium, the island and kingdom were also commonly spelled Bahrein into the 1950s. Bahrain was home to the Dilmun civilization, an important Bronze Age trade centre linking Mesopotamia, Bahrain was later ruled by the Assyrians and Babylonians. From the 6th to 3rd century BC, Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire ruled by the Achaemenian dynasty, by about 250 BC, Parthia brought the Persian Gulf under its control and extended its influence as far as Oman

Bahrain
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Arad Fort in Arad; constructed before the Portuguese assumed control.
Bahrain
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Flag
Bahrain
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Bahrain harbor, c. 1870.
Bahrain
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A photograph of the First Oil Well in Bahrain, with oil first being extracted in 1931

3.
2012 Formula One season
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The 2012 Formula One season was the 66th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship was contested over twenty rounds, which started in Australia on 18 March, the 2012 season saw the return of the United States Grand Prix, which was held at the Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. After being cancelled in 2011 due to protests, the Bahrain Grand Prix also returned to the calendar. The early season was tumultuous, with seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the championship, a record for the series. It was not until the European Grand Prix in June that a driver, Ferraris Fernando Alonso, won his race of the year. Alonso maintained his hold on the lead for the next seven races, taking his third win in Germany and finishing on the podium in the United Kingdom, Italy. Vettel entered the race of the season with a thirteen-point lead over Alonso. In the World Constructors Championship, Red Bull Racing secured their third consecutive title when Sebastian Vettel finished second at the United States Grand Prix, in addition to seeing seven drivers win the first seven races, the 2012 season broke several records. The calendar for the season included twenty races, breaking the record of nineteen. The following twelve teams and twenty-five race drivers competed in the 2012 Formula One World Championship, the FIA published a provisional entry list on 30 November 2011, and the grid was finalised on 17 February. Renault changed its name to Lotus after Lotus Cars expanded its title sponsorship program to include teams in Formula One and support series GP2. Virgin became Marussia, following increased ownership of the team by Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors. As a result of the changes, Team Lotus and Lotus Renault GP declared that their ongoing dispute over the use of the Lotus name was over after they had reached an amicable conclusion. Although the exact terms of the settlement were confidential, the joint statement detailed the transfer of the rights to the Lotus. Williams announced that they would be using Renault engines for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Renault had previously supplied engines to Williams from 1989 to 1997, when the team won four World Drivers Championships and five World Constructors Championships. Likewise, Marussia underwent a restructuring, splitting with Wirth Research mid-season after a review by Marussia Motors. The team also announced a partnership with McLaren that granted them access to McLarens testing facilities as well as the purchase of Wirth Research facilities. In the week before the 2011 Indian Grand Prix, Force India announced that the Sahara Group had purchased a 42. 5% stake in the team, valued at US$100 million

4.
Bahrain International Circuit
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The Bahrain International Circuit is a motorsport venue opened in 2004 and used for drag racing, GP2 Series and the annual Bahrain Grand Prix. The 2004 Grand Prix was the first held in the Middle East, beginning in 2006, Australian V8 Supercars raced at the BIC, with the event known as the Desert 400. However, the V8 Supercars did not return for the 2011 V8 Supercar season,24 Hour endurance races are also hosted at BIC. The circuit has a FIA Grade 1 license, the construction of the Bahrain circuit was a national objective for Bahrain, initiated by the Crown Prince, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The Crown Prince is the Honorary President of the Bahrain Motor Federation, TRL was asked to build the circuit, headed by Patrick Brogan. In the end, the circuit was not quite fully complete, after the 2004 race and ahead of the 2005 race the track was realigned at turn four, decreasing the circuits overall length by 5 metres. At the 2009 Grand Prix, BIC announced a collaboration with @bahrain to develop next to the circuit. @bahrain is part of the Mumtalakat group of companies, in 2011 the circuit was scheduled to be the first GP of the season. However, due to civil unrest in the country the race had to be cancelled in March 2011. On early June the FIA announced that the race would be scheduled for 30 October, the slot for the inaugural Indian GP. However, two later following concerns from teams and other officials, the race organizers officially cancelled the race. The 2012 Formula One calendar had the race scheduled for 22 April, the circuit was designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the same architect who designed the Sepang circuit in Malaysia. The main contractor for the project was Cybarco-WCT, the circuit cost approximately 56.2 million Bahraini Dinars to construct. It has six tracks, including a test oval and a drag strip. The circuit posed a unique problem, positioned in the middle of a desert, there were worries that sand would blow onto the circuit and disrupt the race. However, organizers were able to keep the sand off the track by spraying an adhesive on the sand around the track, the surface of the track is made of graywacke aggregate, shipped to Bahrain from Bayston Hill quarry in Shropshire, England. The surface material is highly acclaimed by circuit bosses and Formula 1 drivers for the level of grip it offers. The same aggregate material is used at the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the DRS zone is on the pit straight at the Bahrain Grand Prix, so turn 1 is the prime overtaking opportunity

5.
Pole position
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The game was designed by Tōru Iwatani, who had also designed the Gee Bee games and Pac-Man. It was the most popular arcade game of 1983. Pole Position was released in two configurations, an upright cabinet, and an environmental/cockpit cabinet. By 1983, it had become the highest-grossing arcade game that year in North America and it was the most successful racing game of the classic era, spawning ports, sequels, and a Saturday morning cartoon, although the cartoon had nothing in common with the game. The game established the conventions of the game genre and its success inspired numerous imitators. Pole Position is regarded as one of the most influential games of all time. In this game, the controls a Formula One race car. After qualifying, the player races against seven other CPU-controlled cars in a championship race, the player must also avoid going off the road so that he or she will not crash into the billboards. Pole Position was the first racing game to feature a track based on a real racing circuit. It was also the first game to feature a qualifying lap, once the player has qualified, they must complete the race in the time allowed, avoiding collisions with CPU-controlled opponents and billboards along the sides of the track. The games publisher Atari publicized the game for its unbelievable driving realism in providing a Formula 1 experience behind a racing wheel, for manufacture and distribution in the United States, Namco approached Bally Midway with a choice of two games in 1982. Bally Midway chose Mappy while Atari was left to publish Pole Position, the game ran on the Namco Pole Position hardware, which was the first to use 16-bit microprocessors, with two Zilog Z8002 processors. It was also capable of displaying up to 3840 colors, the game was an early example of product placement within a video game, with billboards around the track advertising actual companies. Other billboards appeared in both versions, the game was also featured in a TV commercial shown only on MTV. It was part of a series of TV spots that Atari created in the 1980s exclusively for MTV and they also praised the sound effects and solid, realistic graphics, stating it has very rich color images and dimensional depth to the graphics. They also praised the graphics and breathtaking scenery as well as the two-heat format for the race itself. Computer and Video Games also reviewed the version in 1983. They compared it favorably with Turbo, stating that, while Turbo featured better landscapes, it cant match the speed, thrills and skill behind this new race game

Pole position
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Arcade flyer

6.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

7.
Sebastian Vettel
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Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver, currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is a four-time Formula One World Champion, having won the championship in 2010,2011,2012 and 2013 with Red Bull Racing and he is among the most successful F1 drivers of all time. He is one of four drivers to have won four or more drivers titles. He is contracted to remain as a Formula One driver with Scuderia Ferrari until at least the end of 2017. Vettel started his career in Formula One as a test driver for BMW Sauber and made his debut with the team at the 2007 United States Grand Prix, later in the season, he signed with Toro Rosso and stayed with the team into 2008. He became the youngest race winner at the time when he took victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, in his first year driving for Red Bull in 2009, Vettel finished the season as the youngest-ever World Drivers Championship runner-up. The following year he went on to become the youngest driver ever to win the World Drivers Championship, in the same year he helped Red Bull win the teams first World Constructors Championship. He followed up his first championship with three titles, becoming the youngest double, triple and quadruple world champion in Formula One. The 2011 and 2013 titles saw Vettel dominating the seasons and wrapping up the titles early, after his winless 2014 season he returned to winning ways in his first Ferrari season, being the closest challenger to the dominant Mercedes cars and winning three races. He is also currently in place among all time race winners. Vettel was born in Heppenheim, then West Germany, to Norbert and he has one younger brother, Fabian, and two older sisters, Melanie, a dental technician, and Stefanie, a physiotherapist for disabled children. Vettel suggested in an interview that he was terrible at school, Vettel is also a fan of The Beatles, collecting several records, including Abbey Road and his favourite song being Drive My Car. In an interview on Top Gear, Vettel stated that he was a fan of British comedy such as Little Britain, Vettel lives in Thurgovia, Switzerland amongst other racing drivers and is a fan of German football team Eintracht Frankfurt. Vettel has described himself as competitive, private, and impatient, Vettel also appears in advertisements for Head & Shoulders. Vettel provided the voice of character Sebastian Schnell in the version of the movie Cars 2 dubbed for German-speaking audiences, Vettel is in a relationship with Hanna Prater, a childhood friend. In January 2014, Vettel became a father for the first time with the birth of his daughter, in September 2015, Vettel became a father for the second time with the birth of his second daughter, Matilda. In 2015, Forbes estimated that Vettels annual income was $33 million, on the Formula One circuit, Kimi Räikkönen, his Ferrari teammate for 2015 to 2017, is a close friend. Vettel also shows to have a friendship with fellow drivers such as Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg with whom he repeatedly showcases a close

8.
Red Bull Racing
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Red Bull Racing is an Austrian Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England. It is one of two F1 teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH, the other being Scuderia Toro Rosso, the team won four successive Constructors Championship titles, in 2010,2011,2012, and 2013, becoming the first Austrian licensed team to win the title. The team also produced the world champion driver of 2010,2011,2012. Managed by Christian Horner, the team has used Renault engines since 2007, Red Bull Racing then used TAG Heuer-branded Renault engines starting from the 2016 season. The current Red Bull team can trace its origins back to the Stewart Grand Prix outfit that made its debut in 1997. Jackie Stewart sold his team to the Ford Motor Company late in 1999, Red Bull, an energy drinks company, agreed its purchase of Jaguar Racing on the final day of the sale,15 November 2004. BBC Sport reported that Ford asked bidders for a symbolic US$1 in return for a commitment to invest US$400 million in the team over three grand prix seasons. The team continued to have access to the Cosworth engine developed for their 2005 chassis, Christian Horner was installed as the new Team boss and lined up David Coulthard and Christian Klien to drive for the team. Red Bull Racing was not the start of Red Bulls involvement in Formula One, after setting up a Formula One team of its own, Red Bull ended its long-term partnership with the Swiss team. The drinks company also runs a young drivers programme, Red Bull Junior Team, high-profile drivers who have received this backing include Enrique Bernoldi, Christian Klien, Patrick Friesacher, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Scott Speed. Red Bull also sponsors many drivers and teams competing in the GP2 Series, Red Bulls owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, reportedly tried to recruit former Formula One driver and BMW Motorsport chief Gerhard Berger to help guide the team through its debut season. For 2005, the chassis was christened the RB1, Red Bull Racing used Cosworth engines in its maiden year due to the ease of continuing with the engine Jaguar Racing used. Former McLaren driver David Coulthard led the team, Coulthard was chosen for his experience, considered ideal to help lead the fledgling team. For the second car, Red Bull shared the drive two of its young sponsored drivers, Christian Klien, who had driven for Jaguar in 2004 and 2004 F3000 champion Vitantonio Liuzzi. At first it was announced that Klien and Liuzzi would swap driving duty every four races, Red Bulls first year in Formula One was a massive success compared to their predecessors, Jaguar Racing. They were 6th in the Constructors Championship for most of the season, in a single season they amassed more points than Jaguar had in 2003 and 2004. Coulthard, after a poor 2003 and 2004 with McLaren, was a revelation for the team while Klien showed that he had improved from 2004. Overall they scored 34 points,24 for Coulthard,9 for Klien and 1 for Liuzzi, Red Bull was a consistent points and occasional podium challenger for most of their debut season

9.
Renault in Formula One
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Renault are currently involved in Formula One as a constructor, under the name of Renault Sport Formula One Team. They have been associated with Formula One as both constructor and engine supplier for various periods since 1977, in 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in its first car, the Renault RS01. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams, although the Renault team won races and competed for world titles, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault continued supplying engines to other teams until 1986, then again from 1989 to 1997, Renault returned to Formula One in 2000 when it acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team. In 2002 Renault re-branded the team as Renault F1 Team and started to use Renault as their constructor name, for the 2011 Formula One season the team competed under the name Lotus Renault GP but retained the Renault constructor name. In 2012, the changed their constructor name to Lotus and operated as Lotus F1 Team until the end of 2015. Renault has also supplied engines to teams, including Red Bull Racing, Benetton Formula. In addition to its two own F1 World Constructors Championships and two Drivers Championships, as a supplier, Renault has contributed to nine other World Drivers Championships. It has collected over 160 wins as engine supplier, ranking third in Formula One history, Renaults first involvement in Formula One was made by the Renault Sport subsidiary. Renault entered the last five races of 1977 with Jean-Pierre Jabouille in its only car, the Renault RS01 was well known for its Renault-Gordini V61.5 L turbocharged engine, the first regularly used turbo engine in Formula One history. The first race the team, under the name Equipe Renault Elf, entered was the 1977 French Grand Prix, the round of the season. The teams début was delayed until the round, the British Grand Prix. The cars first qualifying session was not a success, and Jabouille qualified 21st out of the 30 runners and 26 starters,1.62 seconds behind pole sitter James Hunt in the McLaren. Jabouille ran well in the race, running as high as 16th before the turbo failed on lap 17. The team missed the German and Austrian Grands Prix as the car was being improved after its British disappointment and they returned for the Dutch Grand Prix, and the qualifying performance was much improved as Jabouille qualified tenth. He had a start, but ran as high as sixth before the suspension failed on lap 40. The teams poor qualifying form returned in Italy, as Jabouille qualified 20th and he ran outside the top 10 until his engine failed on lap 24, continuing their awful run of reliability. After this, Renault did not travel to the finale in Japan

Renault in Formula One
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Renault 1.5 litre turbo engine
Renault in Formula One
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In 1979, the Renault RS10 became the first turbocharged car to win a Grand Prix.
Renault in Formula One
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Derek Warwick qualified third for Renault at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, but spun off after 10 laps.
Renault in Formula One
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Members of the Renault F1 pit crew in 2002.

10.
Podium
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A podium is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek πόδι, in architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podia can also be used to people, for instance the conductor of an orchestra stands on a podium as do many public speakers. Common parlance has shown a use of podium in American English to describe a lectern. In sports, a type of podium is used to honor the top three competitors in such as the Olympics. In the Olympics a three-level podium is used, traditionally, the highest level in the center holds the gold medalist. To their right is a lower platform for the silver medalist. At the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, however, the Silver, in many sports, results in the top three of a competition are often referred to as podiums or podium finishes. In some individual sports, podiums is a statistic, referring to the number of top three results an athlete has achieved over the course of a season or career. The word may also be used, chiefly in the United States, as a verb, to podium, meaning to attain a podium place. Podia were first used at the 1930 British Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario and subsequently during the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the winner stands in the middle, with the second placed driver to his right and the third place driver to his left. Also present are the selected by the race organisers who will present the trophies. In many forms of motorsport, the three top-placed drivers in a stand on a podium for the trophy ceremony. The recordings are versions of the national anthems, ensuring the podium ceremony does not exceeded its allocated time. Should a driver experience problems with his car on a lap in Formula One. The drivers will generally refrain from spraying if a fatality or major accident occurs during the event. Also, in countries where alcohol sponsorship or drinking is prohibited, alcoholic beverages may be replaced by other drinks, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the highest level of stock car racing in the United States, does not use a podium in post-game events or statistics. Instead, the team celebrates in victory lane, and top-five

11.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian

Finland
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Hakkapeliitta featured on a 1940 Finnish stamp
Finland
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Flag
Finland
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Now lying within Helsinki, Suomenlinna is a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site consisting of an inhabited 18th century sea fortress built on six islands. It is one of Finland's most popular tourist attractions.
Finland
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Pioneers in Karelia (1900) by Eero Järnefelt

12.
Lotus F1
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Lotus F1 Team was a British Formula One racing team. The team competed under the Lotus name from 2012 until 2015, Lotus F1 Team was majority owned by Genii Capital and later the French car manufacturer Renault. Lotus F1 Team was named after its branding partner Group Lotus, the team achieved a race victory and fourth position in the Formula One Constructors World Championship in their first season under the Lotus title. The team was back to Groupe Renault on 18 December 2015, Lotus F1 was officially dropped on 3 February 2016. The teams Formula One history started in 1981 as the Toleman Motorsport team, based in Witney, Oxfordshire, in 1986, the team was renamed to Benetton Formula, following its purchase in 1985 by the Benetton family. In 1992/3, the team moved a few miles to a new base in Enstone, michael Schumacher won the Drivers Championship with the team in both 1994 and 1995. In 1995, the also won the Constructors Championship, with Johnny Herbert driving alongside Schumacher. Renault purchased the Benetton team in 2000, and in 2002, in both 2005 and 2006, Fernando Alonso won the Drivers Championship with the team, and the team won the Constructors Championship. Starting with the Lotus E20, the team has recognised these achievements by placing three gold stars in the livery of their car, located just forward of the cockpit, at the end of 2009, Renault sold a majority stake in the team to Genii Capital. Since 2011, Lotus Cars became involved with the team and the team was renamed, first to Lotus Renault GP for 2011 season, and then to Lotus F1 Team for 2012 season. Team Lotus, a company of Lotus Cars, competed in Formula One between 1958 and 1994, winning seven constructors titles and six drivers titles between 1963 and 1978. The Lotus name returned to Formula One in 2010 through Tony Fernandess Lotus Racing team, Group Lotus later terminated the licence for the 2011 season, but Fernandes acquired the privately owned Team Lotus name and used it. For 2012, Team Lotus changed their name to Caterham F1 Team, on 9 December 2011 the team announced that GP2 Series champion and 2009 Renault F1 driver Romain Grosjean would race alongside Räikkönen. At the start of the season, the team was involved in a protest over the use of a rear wing concept on Mercedes AMGs Mercedes F1 W03. The dispute was not settled until the race in China when the stewards unanimously rejected their formal protest. Lotus started the season strongly with Grosjean qualifying third in Australia, in China Räikkönen was running in second until his tyres fell off the cliff pushing him out of the points for the only time of the season. In Bahrain, Lotus achieved their first podium of the season with Räikkönen very close to the winner Vettel, in Monaco Grosjean was involved in another first lap incident but in Canada he worked a one-stop strategy perfectly to take second position, his best Formula One finish. A race later in Valencia Grosjean was running in second until a mechanical problem put him out of the race after a safety car period leaving Räikkönen to take another podium for second, in Germany, Hungary and Belgium Räikkönen took 3 podiums in a row

13.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks

14.
Romain Grosjean
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Romain Grosjean is a racing driver, currently racing for the Haas F1 Team. He races under the French flag in Formula One although he was born in Geneva and he dominated the 2005 French Formula Renault championship at his first attempt and joined the Renault young driver programme. He was the 2007 Formula 3 Euro Series drivers champion, in 2008 he became the inaugural GP2 Asia Series champion and came 4th in his first year in GP2. In 2009 he made his Formula One debut for Renault at the European Grand Prix, due to the Asia and Main GP2 series being combined, it is likely that this will remain true for the foreseeable future. In 2012, Grosjean returned to Formula One with the Lotus F1 Team and he took his first podium in Formula One at the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix and took his first fastest lap in the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix. He became the first driver since 1994 to receive a ban after causing a multi-car pile up at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix. In 2013 he remained with Lotus, taking 6 podiums and he drove for Lotus again alongside Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado in the 2014 season. This line up was continued for 2015, on 29 September 2015, the Haas F1 Team announced that Grosjean would be racing for the team in the 2016 season alongside Esteban Gutiérrez. Grosjean was born in Geneva, Switzerland and he won all ten rounds of the 2003 Formula Lista Junior championship and moved to the French Formula Renault championship for 2004. He was seventh in that first season one win and was champion in 2005 with ten victories. Grosjean also appeared in the Formula Renault Eurocup and finished on the podium twice in Valencia, with his results and potential in the Formula Renault series, Grosjean joined the Renault Driver Development programme for the continuation of his career. Grosjean made his Formula Three debut at the 2005 Macau Grand Prix and he qualified 19th and raced to ninth, beating team-mates Fábio Carbone and Guillaume Moreau. He did a season in the 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series but had a tough year, taking only one podium finish. In a one-off appearance in the British Formula Three Championship he started on pole position for both races at Pau, won both and set fastest lap in each. He stayed in the Formula 3 Euro Series for 2007 but moved to the ASM team, for which Jamie Green, Lewis Hamilton, Sébastien Buemi led the championship in the early stages but Grosjean moved ahead with a victory in the ninth race of the season at Mugello. He maintained a lead in the standings from that point onwards, Grosjean took pole position for the prestigious Masters of Formula 3 race at Zolder but finished 14th after stalling at the start. Grosjean drove for ART in the inaugural GP2 Asia Series season alongside Stephen Jelley and he went on to win the championship with four race victories and sixty-one points overall. He stayed with ART Grand Prix team for the 2008 GP2 Series and his team-mates were Luca Filippi and Sakon Yamamoto

15.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition

16.
2011 Bahrain Grand Prix
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The 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix was scheduled to be the opening round of the 2011 Formula One season. Planned to be held on 13 March 2011 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain, on 3 June, it was announced that the race would be held on 30 October, thus making it round 17 of the 20 to be held during 2011. Following controversy over the reinstatement of the race, organisers of the Grand Prix abandoned their bid to host a race in 2011, on 14 February 2011, civil unrest broke out in Bahrain as part of a series of protests across North Africa and the Middle East. Later that day, it was announced that the whole weekend would be cancelled at the request of the local motoring federation. Bernie Ecclestone, CEO of Formula One Management and Formula One Administration, vice President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab said that it would be hard to bring a quick end to the protests. Ecclestone stated that a decision on the race would be made by 23 February, saying if the situation had not calmed down by then. However, protesters were quoted stating that the reason the Crown Prince was willing to talk with the protestors was for the sake of holding the race. On 21 February 2011, it was announced that the race had been postponed due to the ongoing protests, the organisers were later given until 1 May to decide whether they want to proceed with the race at a later date. The Bahrain race officials released a statement one day later that they were hopeful of rescheduling the Grand Prix, on 2 May 2011 Bernie Ecclestone extended the deadline to 3 June. At a meeting of the World Motorsports Council on 3 June, red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber expressed also his concerns over the human rights conditions and stated that he would have hoped for the sport to have taken a firmer stance on the affair. Several other drivers expressed a willingness to race on the condition that their safety could be guaranteed amid reports that widespread protests were being planned for the day of the race. According to former FIA president Max Mosley, the rescheduling of the race would require the agreement of the teams. The FIA later asked Ecclestone to submit a new calendar proposal after they were informed by FOTA that holding the Bahrain Grand Prix on 30 October was impractical. One week after the WMSC voted to return the race to the calendar, organisers for the Bahrain Grand Prix officially abandoned their bid to return to the calendar

17.
Bahrain Grand Prix
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The Bahrain Grand Prix is a Formula One Championship race in Bahrain sponsored by Gulf Air. The first race took place at the Bahrain International Circuit on 4 April 2004 and it made history as the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held in the Middle East, and was given the award for the Best Organised Grand Prix by the FIA. The Bahrain Grand Prix has usually been the race of the Formula One calendar. However, in the 2006 season, Bahrain swapped places with the opener, the Australian Grand Prix. In 2010, Bahrain staged the opening race of the 2010 season, the 2011 Grand Prix, due to be held on 13 March, was cancelled on 21 February due to the 2011 Bahraini protests after drivers including Damon Hill and Mark Webber had protested. Human rights activists called for a cancellation of 2012 race due to reports of alleged human rights committed by the Bahraini authorities. Team personnel also voiced concerns about safety, but the race, in 2014, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the first staging of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the race was held as a night event under floodlights. In so doing it became the second Formula One night race after the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008, bahrains inaugural night event was won by Lewis Hamilton. Subsequent races have also been night races, the building of the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir was started in 2002 with high domestic interest about the project as it gave a future to the next generation of Bahraini racers. The first race was in 2004, the race was won by German driver Michael Schumacher for Ferrari. In 2007 and 2008, Brazilian Felipe Massa won the race for Ferrari,2009 saw Jenson Button win for Brawn GP. After his 2010 triumph, Alonso became the first three-time winner, the 2010 race saw a new circuit configuration being used for the Grand Prix. It used the Endurance Circuit layout, extending the lap length to 6.299 km, the new track turns left shortly after Turn 4, the right-hander at the top of the hill following the first sequence of turns. There is then a sequence of five turns before the head back to the original circuit. Then comes a left-right kink before a tight hairpin returns the cars onto the main track, the track would have reverted to its original layout for the 2011 race, and did so for the 2012 race. On 21 February 2011, it was announced that the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix scheduled for 13 March was cancelled due to the 2011 Bahraini protests, on 3 June, FIA decided to reschedule the race for 30 October. World champion racer Damon Hill called on Formula One not to saying that if the race went ahead we will forever have the blight of association with repressive methods to achieve order. And Bernie Ecclestone told the BBC in an interview, Hopefully therell be peace and quiet and we can return in the future, the schedule cannot be rescheduled without the agreement of the participants – theyre the facts

Bahrain Grand Prix
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Bahrain Grand Prix

18.
Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton, MBE is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team. A three-time Formula One World Champion, he is regarded by fellow and he won his first title with McLaren in 2008 before moving to Mercedes, where he won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. In December 1995, at the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at the Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, I want to race for McLaren. Less than three years later McLaren and Mercedes-Benz signed him to their Young Driver Support Programme, Hamiltons contract for the McLaren driver development program made him the youngest ever driver to secure a contract which later resulted in a Formula One drive. Coming from a background, with a black father and white mother. In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous records while finishing second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, just one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. He won the World Championship the following season in dramatic fashion, following his second world title in 2014, he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. In 2015, he became the first British driver in history to win consecutive F1 titles, and he also became the first English driver to reach that milestone. He is the first driver in the history of F1 to have made the podium after starting 20th place or lower at least 3 times. He is the driver in the history of the sport to have won at least one race in each season he has competed to date, with McLaren from 2007 until 2012. He has more victories than any other British driver in the history of Formula One. His 53 Grand Prix victories is the second highest of all-time having surpassed Alain Prosts total of 51 at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix, behind only Michael Schumacher at 91. Hamilton also holds the record for most wins in the season winning the World Championship. Hamilton was born on 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, although widely reported as being named after American sprinter Carl Lewis, Hamilton states that this is not the case. Hamiltons mother, Carmen, is white British, while his father, Anthony Hamilton, is black British, making him mixed-race, in early 2011, Nicolas signed with Total Control Racing to start a racing career in the 2011 Renault Clio Cup. Hamilton was raised a Roman Catholic, Hamiltons father bought him a radio-controlled car in 1991, which gave him his first taste of racing competition. Hamilton finished second in the national BRCA championship the following year and he said of the time, I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults. As a result of this his father bought him his first go-kart as a Christmas present at the age of six and his father told him that he would support his racing career as long as he worked hard at school

Lewis Hamilton
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Hamilton in Germany, October 2014
Lewis Hamilton
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Anthony Hamilton, Lewis' father, celebrating with his son after the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix. From this point until March 2010, Anthony Hamilton was the driver's manager.
Lewis Hamilton
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Hamilton's first Formula One win came at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton
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Hamilton after taking pole at the 2007 United States Grand Prix.

19.
Mark Webber
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After some racing success in Australia driving Formula Ford and Formula Holden, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career. He also beat future F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, then 19, Webber made his Formula One debut in 2002, scoring Minardis first points in three years at his and Stoddarts home race. After his first season, Jaguar took him on as lead driver, during two years with the generally uncompetitive team, Webber qualified on the front two rows of the grid several times and outperformed his teammates. His first F1 win was with Red Bull at the 2009 German Grand Prix, by the end of 2009, Webber had scored eight podiums, including another victory in Brazil. His eight podiums in 2009 compares to only two podiums in the first seven years of his career and he added ten more podiums in 2010, including victories in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary. Webber finished the 2010 season in place having led for a long period. Webber added another victory in the 2011 Brazilian Grand Prix, as he once again finished third behind champion Vettel. He finished the season in sixth position, Webber was also a long-term director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, the Formula One drivers union. On 27 June 2013, Webber announced he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the season and he began to race for Porsche in 2014, on a long-term deal, racing LMP1 Sportscars in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Webber is one of six drivers of the Porsche 919 Hybrid, the trio race with the #1 on their car in 2016. Webber was born in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, son of Alan Webber, a motorcycle dealer. Webber has one sister, Leanne, and two nieces. He attended Karabar High School in Queanbeyan for his secondary education and he began his relationship with sport at a young age, working as a ball boy for premiership winning rugby league team, the Canberra Raiders, during the late 1980s. However, motorsport was where his interest lay, listing Formula One World Champion Alain Prost, starting out racing motorcycles, Webber moved to four wheels in 1991, taking up karting at age 14. He won the New South Wales state championship in 1993, working as a driving instructor at Sydneys Oran Park Raceway between races, Webber finished 14th overall in his debut season. Continuing in the series in 1995, Webber scored several victories, Webber was given a test at Snetterton with the Van Diemen team, and subsequently earned a works drive for the team at the 1995 Formula Ford Festival, at Brands Hatch, where he finished third. That was good enough to prompt the team to signing him for the 1996 championship, before moving to Europe permanently, Webber won the Formula Holden race at the 1996 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. During the 1996 British Formula Ford Championship, he took four victories on his way to second place overall and he also won the Spa-Francorchamps race of the Formula Ford Euro Cup, taking third in the series despite competing in only two of the three rounds

20.
McLaren
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McLaren Racing Limited, competing as McLaren Honda, is a British Formula One team based at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has competed in and won the Indianapolis 500. The team is the second oldest active team after Ferrari and they are one of the most successful teams in Formula One history, having won 182 races,12 drivers championships and eight constructors championships. The team is an owned subsidiary of McLaren Technology Group. Further American triumph followed, with Indianapolis 500 wins in McLaren cars for Mark Donohue in 1972, the combination of Prost and Senna was particularly dominant—together they won all but one race in 1988—but later their rivalry soured and Prost left for Ferrari. Fellow English team Williams offered the most consistent challenge during this period, however, by the mid-1990s, Honda had withdrawn from Formula One, Senna had moved to Williams, and the team went three seasons without a win. Ron Dennis retired as McLaren team principal in 2009, handing the role to longtime McLaren employee Martin Whitmarsh. At the end of 2013, after the teams worst season since 2004, McLaren announced in 2013 that they would be using Honda engines from 2015 onwards, replacing Mercedes-Benz. The team raced as McLaren-Honda for the first time since 1992 at the 2015 Australian Grand Prix, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren. Bruce was a driver for the British Formula One team Cooper with whom he had won three Grands Prix and come second in the 1960 world championship. In 1964 and 1965, McLaren were based in New Malden, then Feltham, during this period, Bruce drove for his team in sports car races in the United Kingdom and North America and also entered the 1965 Tasman Series with Phil Hill, but did not win it. He continued to drive in Grands Prix for Cooper, but judging that teams form to be waning, Bruce made the teams Grand Prix debut at the 1966 Monaco race. His race ended after nine laps due to an oil leak. Neither car brought great success, the best result being a fourth at Monaco, for 1968, after driving McLarens sole entry for the previous two years, Bruce was joined by 1967 champion and fellow New Zealander Denny Hulme, who was already racing for McLaren in Can-Am. That years new M7A car, Herds final design for the team, was powered by Cosworths new and soon to be ubiquitous DFV engine, Hulme also won the Italian and Canadian Grands Prix later in the year, helping the team to second in the constructors championship. The year 1970 started with a place each for Hulme. After his death, Teddy Mayer took over control of the team, Hulme continued with Dan Gurney. Gurney won the first two Can-Am events at Mosport and St. Jovite and placed ninth in the third, but left the team mid-season, and Gethin took over from there

McLaren
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The McLaren Racing team's founder Bruce McLaren
McLaren
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The McLaren M2B the team's first Formula One car
McLaren
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Emerson Fittipaldi won the 1974 drivers' championship with McLaren.
McLaren
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Five years after his first retirement, Lauda won his third title driving a McLaren MP4/2.

21.
Jenson Button
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Jenson Alexander Lyons Button MBE is a British racing driver currently under contract with McLaren-Honda, as a reserve driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship, driving for Brawn GP, Button began karting at the age of eight and achieved early success, before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 for the 2000 season, the following year he switched to Benetton, which in 2002 became Renault, and then for the 2003 season he moved to BAR. In 2004 he finished 3rd in the World Drivers Championship, with only the two Ferraris ahead of him, BAR was subsequently renamed Honda for the 2006 season, during which Button won his first Grand Prix in Hungary, after 113 races. For 2010, he moved to McLaren, partnering fellow British racer and former World Champion Lewis Hamilton, after finishing fifth for the team in 2010, Button finished the 2011 season as runner-up. In 2012 he took his first pole for McLaren at the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix and he spent a fifth season with the McLaren team in 2014, his fifteenth in Formula One. From the 305 races that Button has started he has won 15, Button was born on 19 January 1980 in Frome, Somerset and brought up in nearby Vobster. He was named after his fathers Danish friend and rallycross opponent Erling Jensen and he was educated at Vallis First School, Selwood Middle School and Frome Community College. After his parents divorced when he was seven, he and his three sisters were brought up by their mother in Frome. However, after a while the boy moved to his stepmother Pippa Kerr, when Jenson was 19 years of age John Button and Pipa Kerr divorced. Button junior failed his first driving test for getting too close to a parked vehicle, in 1989, aged nine, he came first in the British Super Prix. He won all 34 races of the 1991 British Cadet Kart Championship, further successes followed, including three triumphs in the British Open Kart Championship. In 1997, he won the Ayrton Senna Memorial Cup, aged 18, Button moved into car racing, winning the British Formula Ford Championship with Haywood Racing, he also triumphed in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch. At the end of 1998, he won the annual McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award and his prize included a test in a McLaren Formula One car, which he received at the end of the following year. Button entered the British Formula 3 Championship in 1999, with the Promatecme team and he won three times —at Thruxton, Pembrey and Silverstone—and finished the season as the top rookie driver, and third overall. He finished fifth and second respectively in the Marlboro Masters and Macau Grand Prix, at the end of 1999, Button had his McLaren test prize at Silverstone, and also tested for the Prost team. This made him Britains youngest ever Formula One driver, however some had misgivings about his lack of experience and ability to cope with the pressures of Formula One. Making his début in Australia, Button crashed during practice and qualified second-last on the grid, however, he performed strongly in the race and was set to score a point before his engine failed 11 laps from the finish

22.
Nico Rosberg
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Nico Erik Rosberg is a German former Formula One racing driver and current Formula One World Champion who drove for Williams F1 and Mercedes AMG Petronas under the German flag. Born in Germany to Finnish former world champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina, he holds dual nationality, although reported to be fluent in five languages, he does not speak Finnish. Rosberg won the 2005 GP2 Series for the ART team, having raced in Formula 3 Euro Series previously for his fathers racing organisation Team Rosberg and he entered Formula One in 2006 with Williams, the team with which his father had won the 1982 championship. After four years with Williams, in 2010 he joined the re-branded Mercedes team and he enjoyed his most successful period with Mercedes, winning 23 Grands Prix and earning 30 pole positions. In a period of Mercedes dominance, he had a rivalry with his teammate Lewis Hamilton, finishing second in the World Championship in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, he finally became Formula One World Champion after a duel with Hamilton, which was undecided until the final race. He announced his retirement from the five days later, on 2 December 2016. Before the 2017 Formula One season, Rosberg announced that he would continue his partnership with Mercedes, Rosberg was born in Wiesbaden, Hesse, West Germany, the son of Finnish 1982 Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg and his German wife Sina. Rosberg was born four days after his father won the 1985 Detroit Grand Prix. His father deliberately chose not to teach him Finnish, concentrating on other languages which would be more important for Nicos life. He holds dual citizenship, German and Finnish and has competed under both the Finnish and German flag during different points in his early career. The FIA does not allow one to compete under two nationalities simultaneously in any FIA world championship and Rosberg elected to drive under the German flag when he entered Formula One, Rosberg married his childhood friend and long-time fiancée Vivian Sibold on 11 July 2014. Their daughter, Alaïa Rosberg, was born on 30 August 2015, Rosberg started out in karting at the age of six, later in 2000 he and Lewis Hamilton were teammates. Rosberg then moved up to German Formula BMW in 2002, where he won the title and his performances resulted in a move to drive for his fathers team in Formula 3 Euro Series, a combination of the several national Formula Three championships that had existed prior to its formation. Rosberg did well there, and stayed on for 2004, in early 2004, he got one of his first tastes of Formula One by doing a test session with Williams. Offered a place on the engineering course at Imperial College London, Rosberg declined. He went on to become the first driver to win the GP2 title, in late 2005, Rosberg was officially confirmed as a Williams driver for the 2006 season. In the Engineering Aptitude Test, administered to all new Williams drivers, nonetheless, he finished in the points, seventh behind teammate Mark Webber, and recorded the fastest lap, becoming, at the time, the youngest driver to do so in F1 history

23.
Scuderia Ferrari
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Scuderia Ferrari S. p. A. competing as Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, and competes in Formula One racing. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, the team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. As a constructor, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors Championships, Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have won a record 15 Drivers Championships for the team. Since Räikkönens title in 2007 the team narrowly lost out on the 2008 drivers title with Felipe Massa, Schumacher is the teams most successful driver. Joining the team in 1996 and departing in 2006 he won five titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between 2000 and 2004, including the constructors title of 1999 consecutively being won until the end of 2004, this was the teams most successful period. Currently, World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are the two race drivers. The team is known for its passionate support base known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the home race. The Scuderia Ferrari team was founded by Enzo Ferrari on 16 November 1929 and became the team of Alfa Romeo. In 1938, Alfa Romeo management made the decision to enter racing under its own name, establishing the Alfa Corse organisation, Enzo Ferrari disagreed with this change in policy and was finally dismissed by Alfa in 1939. The terms of his leaving forbade him from motorsport under his own name, in 1939 Ferrari started work on a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815. The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first Ferrari cars, World War II put a temporary end to racing, and Ferrari concentrated on an alternative use for his factory during the war years, doing machine tool work. After the war, Ferrari recruited several of his former Alfa colleagues and established a new Scuderia Ferrari, the team owns and operates a test track on the same site, the Fiorano Circuit built in 1972, which is used for testing road and race cars. The team is named after its founder, Enzo Ferrari, Scuderia is Italian for a stable reserved for racing horses and is also commonly applied to Italian motor racing teams. In 1947 Ferrari constructed the 12-cylinder,1.5 L Tipo 125, a Formula One version of the Tipo 125, the Ferrari 125 F1 was developed in 1948 and entered in several Grand Prix, at the time a World Championship had not yet been established. In 1950, the Formula One World Championship was established, and it is the only team to have competed in every season of the World Championship, from its inception to the current day. The company later switched to the large-displacement naturally aspirated formula for the 275,340, after the 1951 Formula One season the Alfa team withdrew from F1, causing the authorities to adopt the Formula Two regulations due to the lack of suitable F1 cars

24.
Mercedes-Benz in Formula One
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Mercedes-Benz is currently involved in Formula One, running Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, a Formula One racing team, based in Brackley, United Kingdom, using a German licence. Mercedes-Benz had competed in the pre-war European Championship winning three titles, and debuted in Formula One in 1954, running a team for two years. After winning their first race at the 1954 French Grand Prix and it supplied Sauber for one season, then switched to McLaren in 1995. In 2009 they also became suppliers of Brawn GP and Force India, Mercedes-Benz returned with a factory team in 2010 after the purchase of Brawn. A fourth team was added to the program in 2014. For the 2015 season, the 20-year long partnership with McLaren ended, instead, Mercedes supplied engines to the Lotus F1 team, before switching to Manor in 2016. The manufacturer has collected more than 100 wins as engine supplier, five Constructors and seven Drivers Championships have been won with Mercedes-Benz engines. Mercedes has become one of the most successful teams in recent Formula One history, in 2014, Mercedes managed 11 one-two finishes beating McLarens 1988 record of 10. The record was beaten the year having achieved 12 one-two finishes. Mercedes also collected 16 victories in 2014 and 2015 apiece breaking McLaren, in 2016, they broke their own record, achieving 19 wins. Mercedes-Benz formerly competed in Grand Prix motor racing in the 1930s, both teams were heavily funded by the Nazi regime, winning all European Grand Prix Championships after 1932, of which Rudolf Caracciola won three for Mercedes-Benz. In 1954, Mercedes-Benz returned to what was now known as Formula One under the leadership of Alfred Neubauer, the car was run in both the conventional open-wheeled configuration and a streamlined form, which featured covered wheels and wider bodywork. Juan Manuel Fangio, the 1951 champion, transferred mid-season from Maserati to Mercedes-Benz for their debut at the French Grand Prix on 4 July 1954, the team had immediate success and recorded a 1–2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling, as well as the fastest lap. Fangio went on to win three races in 1954, winning the championship. The success continued into the 1955 season, with Mercedes-Benz developing the W196 throughout the year, Mercedes-Benz again dominated the season, with Fangio taking four races, and his new team mate Stirling Moss winning the British Grand Prix. Fangio and Moss finished first and second in that years championship, at the end of the season, the team withdrew from motor sport, including Formula One. Following the purchase of the team, as well as a deal with Petronas. BAR, who had formed a partnership with Honda, eventually became Honda Racing F1 Team in 2006 when BAT withdrew from the sport

25.
Al Jazeera English
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Al Jazeera English is an international state-funded 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel owned and operated by Al Jazeera Media Network, which is headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is a channel of the Bosnia and Herzegovina-based multi-language Al Jazeera Balkans, the online digital networks AJ+ and Al Jazeera Turk. Al Jazeera English is the worlds first English-language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East, the channel aims to provide both a regional voice and a global perspective for a potential world audience of over one billion English speakers who do not share the Anglo-American worldview. Instead of being run under one command, news management rotates between broadcasting centers in Doha and London. At its launch, the station actually had four news centres in the world, in Washington, complete news bulletins from Kuala Lumpur stopped on 30 September 2010 and from Washington, D. C. on 28 January 2011, they were replaced by news from Doha. All news inserts from Kuala Lumpur ceased in early 2011 and from Washington DC they ceased on 15 April 2012, by contrast, Al Jazeera English is one of the few global media outlets to maintain an agency in Gaza, and in Harare. The networks stated objective is to voice to untold stories, promote debate. Al Jazeera English has stated objectives of emphasizing news from the world, of reversing the North to South flow of information. Other Al Jazeera English slogans and catchphrases include, All the News | All the Time, Fearless Journalism and If its newsworthy, it gets on air, Al Jazeeras Code of Ethics mirrors some of these statements. Award-winning creative teams shaped the English brand identity, the channel was launched on 15 November 2006 at 12,00 GMT. It had aimed to begin broadcasting in June 2006 but had to postpone its launch because its HDTV technology was not ready. The channel had expected to reach around 40 million households, but it far exceeded that launch target, the channel is noted for its poor penetration in the American market, where it was carried by only one satellite service and a small number of cable networks. Al Jazeera English later began a campaign to enter the North American market and it became available to some cable subscribers in New York in August 2011, having previously been available as an option for some viewers in Washington, D. C. The channel primarily reaches the United States via its online streaming. Foreign press access to Gaza has been limited via either Egypt or Israel, the channel may also be viewed online. It recommends online viewing at its own website or at its channel on YouTube, Al Jazeera English HD launched in the United Kingdom on Freeview on 26 November 2013, and began streaming in HD on YouTube in 2015. On 3 January 2013, Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it had purchased Current TV in the United States, 60% of the channels programming would be produced in America while 40% would be from Al Jazeera English. That was later changed at the request of the cable and satellite providers to almost 100% American programing, regardless Al Jazeera America maintained a close working relationship with Al Jazeera English

26.
CNN
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The Cable News Network is an American basic cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel, upon its launch, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily broadcasts from the Time Warner Center in New York City and its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta is only used for weekend programming. CNN is sometimes referred to as CNN/U. S. to distinguish the American channel from its sister network. As of August 2010, CNN is available in over 100 million U. S. households, broadcast coverage of the U. S. channel extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, as well as carriage on cable and satellite providers throughout Canada. Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories, as of February 2015, CNN is available to about 96,289,000 cable, satellite, and telco television households in the United States. The Cable News Network was launched at 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time on June 1,1980, after an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the channels first newscast. Burt Reinhardt, the vice president of CNN at its launch, hired most of the channels first 200 employees, including the networks first news anchor. Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite providers, several websites. The company has 36 bureaus, more than 900 affiliated local stations, the channels success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for conglomerate Time Warners eventual acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1,1982, on January 28,1986, CNN carried the only live television coverage of the launch and subsequent break-up of Space Shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members on board. On October 14,1987, Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old toddler, fell down a well in Midland, CNN quickly reported on the story, and the event helped make its name. This was before correspondents reported live from the capital while American bombs were falling. Before Saddam Hussein held a press conference with a few of the hundreds of Americans he was holding hostage. Before the nation watched, riveted but powerless, as Los Angeles was looted and burned, before O. J. Simpson took a slow ride in a white Bronco, and before everyone close to his case had an agent and a book contract. This was uncharted territory just a time ago. The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Bernard Shaw on January 16,1991, as follows, lets describe to our viewers what were seeing. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated, were seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky

27.
Agence France-Presse
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Agence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1944, AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, after the Associated Press, journalists of the French Resistance established the AFP in the headquarters of the former Office Français dInformation, a Vichy news agency, following the liberation of Paris. Currently, the CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and the News Director is Michèle Léridon, AFP has regional offices in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong, and Washington, D. C. and bureaux in 150 countries. AFP transmits news in French, English, Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, the Agence Havas was founded in 1835 by a Parisian translator and advertising agent, Charles-Louis Havas as Agence Havas. Two of his employees, Paul Reuter and Bernhard Wolff, later set up rival news agencies in London and Berlin respectively and this arrangement lasted until the 1930s, when the invention of short-wave wireless improved and cut communications costs. To help Havas extend the scope of its reporting at a time of international tension. Established as an enterprise, AFP devoted the post-war years to developing its network of international correspondents. One of them was the first Western journalist to report the death of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin on March 6,1953, AFP was keen to shake off its semi-official status, and on January 10,1957 the French Parliament passed a law establishing its independence. Since that date, the proportion of the revenues generated by subscriptions from government departments has steadily declined. Such subscriptions represented 115 million Euros in 2011, in 1982, the agency began to decentralize its editorial decision-making by setting up the first of its five autonomous regional centres, in Hong Kong, then a British Crown colony. Each region has its own budget, administrative director and chief editor, in September 2007, the AFP Foundation was launched to promote higher standards of journalism worldwide. The Mitrokhin archive identified six agents and two confidential KGB contacts inside Agence France-Presse who were used in Soviet operations in France, in 1991, AFP set up a joint venture with Extel to create a financial news service, AFX News. It was sold in 2006 to Thomson Financial, in October 2008, the Government of France announced moves to change AFPs status, including the involvement of outside investors. On February 24,2010, Pierre Louette unexpectedly announced his intention to resign as CEO by the end of March, AFP is a government-chartered public corporation operating under a 1957 law, but is officially a commercial business independent of the French government. One is named by the minister, another by the minister of finance. The board elects the CEO for a term of three years. The AFP also has a council charged with ensuring that the agency operates according to its statutes, editorially, AFP is governed by a network of senior journalists. The primary client of AFP is the French government, which purchases subscriptions for its various services, in practice, those subscriptions are an indirect subsidy to AFP

28.
Sky News
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Sky News is a 24-hour international multimedia news company based in the U. K. Originally a 24-hour television news channel, Sky News currently provides news on television, online, John Ryley is the Head of Sky News, a role he has held since June 2006. Other versions of Sky News are operated as joint-ventures and these include Sky News Australia and Sky News Arabia. A channel called Sky News International, with the news content but without British adverts, is available in Europe, Africa, Asia. Sky News Radio provides national and international news to radio stations in the UK. Sky News also provides content to Yahoo, the channel is available on Apple TV, Roku and YouTube. On 8 June 1988, Rupert Murdoch announced plans to start a new television service in a speech to the British Academy of Film. Sky News started broadcasting at 6 pm on 5 February 1989, there were overriding reasons of prestige and politics for keeping it. The final hurdle of the Broadcasting Bill had still to be overcome, – former deputy Prime Minister Viscount Whitelaw said in the House of Lords in 1990 that Sky News had a very high reputation. I admire it, as do other people, it will certainly waken up both the BBC and ITN and ensure that they compete with what is a very important news service. The channel has never run for a profit, and has considered using ITN to supplement the service. Ask anyone in Europe, and particularly the BBC and you will be told that Sky News has added a new, Sky News was the UKs first 24-hour news channel, broadcast on Astra 1A. It had no competition until November 1997 when BBC News launched a new 24-hour channel, BBC News 24. In September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a Sky News complaint which argued that the publicly funded BBC News 24 was unfair, the EC ruled that the television licence fee should be considered state aid but that the BBCs public service remit justified the channel. In March 2000 Sky News Active was launched, a 24-hour interactive service providing headlines on demand, in March 2004 it was announced that Sky News had won a 5-year contract to supply news bulletins to Channel 5, taking over from ITN in January 2005. On 24 October 2005, Sky News moved to new studios in Isleworth, London, the new studio was integrated with the newsroom and boasted the biggest video wall in Britain, it was designed by New York architects Janson Design Group. New music was scored by Adelphoi Music and recorded with an orchestra at Air Studios, Hampstead. New on-screen graphics were launched and the channel broadcasting in Widescreen format

29.
The Independent
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The Independent is a British online newspaper. The printed edition of the paper ceased in March 2016, nicknamed the Indy, it began as a broadsheet newspaper, but changed to tabloid format in 2003. Until September 2011, the paper described itself on the banner at the top of every newspaper as free from party political bias and it tends to take a pro-market stance on economic issues. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. In June 2015, it had a daily circulation of just below 58,000,85 per cent down from its 1990 peak. On 12 February 2016, it was announced that The Independent, the last print edition of The Independent on Sunday was published on 20 March 2016, with the main paper ceasing print publication the following Saturday. Launched in 1986, the first issue of The Independent was published on 7 October in broadsheet format and it was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at The Daily Telegraph who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwells ownership, marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing, and Whittam Smith took control of the paper. The paper was created at a time of a change in British newspaper publishing. Rupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted practices of the print unions and ultimately defeated them in the Wapping dispute, consequently, production costs could be reduced which, it was said at the time, created openings for more competition. As a result of controversy around Murdochs move to Wapping, the plant was effectively having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside, the Independent attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his companys new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan It is, and challenging both The Guardian for centre-left readers and The Times as the newspaper of record, The Independent reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989. Competing in a market, The Independent sparked a general freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years. Some aspects of production merged with the paper, although the Sunday paper retained a largely distinct editorial staff. It featured spoofs of the other papers mastheads with the words The Rupert Murdoch or The Conrad Black, a number of other media companies were interested in the paper. Tony OReillys media group and Mirror Group Newspapers had bought a stake of about a third each by mid-1994, in March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into OReillys Independent News & Media, MGN, and Prisa. In April 1996, there was another refinancing, and in March 1998, OReilly bought the other 54% of the company for £30 million, brendan Hopkins headed Independent News, Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent, and Rosie Boycott became editor of The Independent on Sunday. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won critical favour but was a commercial failure, Marr admitted his changes had been a mistake in his book, My Trade

The Independent
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The Independent front page, 15 February 2014

30.
2010 Bahrain Grand Prix
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The 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 14 March 2010 at the Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain. It was the seventh Bahrain Grand Prix and the round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was the first time since 2006 that Bahrain had hosted the opening round, the race was won by Fernando Alonso, his first as a Ferrari driver. His new teammate, Felipe Massa ensured a good start to the year for the team by finishing second, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton completed the podium by finishing in third position. All of the race had been led by polesitter and Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel and this meant that he was eventually overtaken by Massa and Hamilton too, meaning that he finished in fourth place. Vettels teammate, Mark Webber qualified sixth before finishing the race in eighth place, Michael Schumachers first race of his return to Formula One for the Mercedes resulted in him finishing sixth, one place behind teammate Nico Rosberg. Reigning world champion Jenson Button completed his first race for the McLaren team by finishing seventh, the three new teams – Lotus, Hispania and Virgin – did not have a very successful debut race. Their six cars occupied the last six places in qualifying, and only one, as a consequence of the race, Fernando Alonso and Ferrari led their respective championships with maximum points. New drivers Nico Hülkenberg, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, Lucas di Grassi, Hülkenberg joined Williams, Petrov joined Renault and di Grassi became part of the Virgin team, while Hispania had an all-rookie line-up of Senna and Chandhok. 2009 World Champion Jenson Button made his debut for McLaren after changing teams from 2009 Constructors Champions Brawn in November 2009, Schumacher won the first event in 2004. The race also saw a return to the banning of refueling of the cars during the race, additionally a new points scoring system to decide the World Drivers Championship was implemented, the most radical revamp of the system since the formation of the World Championship in 1950. Race winning drivers will now score more than double the number of previously allocated with points distributed further down the list of finishers. The proportions of points available to winners are higher, at 24 drivers, this was the largest grid at a Grand Prix since 1995. The race was also the first to feature a revised stewards panel under new FIA regulations, the driver in Bahrain was four-time World Champion Alain Prost. Adrian Sutil set the fastest time for the Force India team in the first session of practice on Friday morning. Fernando Alonso was second, ahead of Robert Kubica, Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari, on his return to Formula One, Michael Schumacher set the tenth-fastest time for Mercedes, two positions behind teammate Nico Rosberg. Of the new teams, both Lotus drivers and Timo Glock set times, but Lucas di Grassi did not complete a lap in the second Virgin car. The Hispania team was still completing its two chassis when the session started, but Bruno Senna was able to complete two laps before it ended

31.
Pirelli
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SpA is a multinational company based in Milan, Italy, formerly listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1922. It was acquired in 2015 by ChemChina, the company is one of the largest tyre manufacturers behind Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental and Goodyear. It is present in over 160 countries, has 20 manufacturing sites in 14 countries, Pirelli has been sponsoring sport competitions since 1907 and is the exclusive tyre supplier for the Formula One Championship for 2011–2019 and for the FIM World Superbike Championship. Pirelli is now a pure tyre manufacturing company, in the past it has also launched fashion project and operated in renewable energy and sustainable mobility. Founded in Milan in 1872 by Giovanni Battista Pirelli, the company specialised in rubber and derivative processes. Thereafter, Pirellis activities were focused on the production of tyres and cables. In 2005, Pirelli sold its division to Goldman Sachs. In the 1950s, Alberto Pirelli commissioned the building of a skyscraper, Pirelli Tower, in 1974, Pirelli invented the wide radial tyre, upon a request from the Lancia rally racing team for a tyre strong enough to withstand the power of the new Lancia Stratos. At that time, racing tyres were either slick tyres made with the cross ply technique, or radial tyres, both were unusable for the Lancia Stratos, as the radials were destroyed within 10 km, and the slicks too stiff. Lancia asked Pirelli for a solution, and in 1975 Pirelli created a wide tyre with a reduced sidewall height like a slick, subsequently, Porsche started using the same tyres with the Porsche 911 Turbo. In 1988, Pirelli acquired the Armstrong Rubber Company, which was headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2002 the company started a range of Pirelli branded clothing, watches and eyewear. In March 2015, it was announced that Pirelli shareholders has accepted a €7.1 billion bid from ChemChina for the company, the transaction was completed and the company was delisted in November 2015. The list of Pirelli main shareholders As of September 2016 The list of Pirelli Board of Directors, the Pirelli Calendar is published annually, and regularly features famous actresses and fashion models. The Pirelli Internetional Award is given annually for the best international multimedia involving the communication of science, power is nothing without control is the well known slogan of Pirelli Tyre Company, and is featured in numerous television and print advertisements. Pirelli is the main sponsor of Italian football club Inter Milan. Pirelli has a history of sponsoring football teams, Pirelli is well known for its long term primary sponsorship of the Italian football team Inter Milan. Pirelli previously appeared as a sponsor on the shirts of the Maltese football club Valletta for a short time, Pirellis sponsorship of football teams is not limited to Europe, South America is a key market and as a result successful clubs have also been sponsored by the tyre company. The Brazilian team Palmeiras, Uruguayan team Peñarol and Argentinian side Vélez Sársfield all had Pirelli as a shirt sponsor, when English Football League One side Burton Albion Football Club built their new stadium in 2005, Pirelli became the title sponsor of the new ground

Pirelli
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Pirelli headquarters

32.
2012 Australian Grand Prix
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The 2012 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 18 March 2012 as the opening round of the 2012 Formula One season. The 58-lap race was won by McLaren driver Jenson Button who took his victory at the Albert Park Circuit. Reigning double World Champion Sebastian Vettel, driving for Red Bull Racing, finished in place, while polesitter. Australian Mark Webber was fourth, his best result in his home Grand Prix and it was also the first Grand Prix to feature six current and former Formula One World Champions taking part in the race. It was the first Australian Grand Prix to feature two Australians on the grid, after using one Drag Reduction System zone in 2011, the circuit featured two zones for the 2012 race. Other modifications to the circuit included the introduction of thicker, spongier astroturf on the exit of several corners to discourage drivers from driving beyond the limits of the circuit. Mercedes were the subject of an investigation by the scrutineers over the use of a rear wing concept on the F1 W03. Charlie Whiting, the FIAs technical delegate, examined the car on the Thursday before the race, HRT experienced problems with the #22 chassis to be driven by Pedro de la Rosa on Thursday. The team requested a delay to the process, with the FIA agreeing and allowing HRT until 11am local time to work on the car before presenting it to race stewards. The team ultimately passed scrutineering, allowing de la Rosa to take part in practice and the race, several drivers made their Formula One debut along with others taking part in their first Australian Grand Prix as full-time drivers. The French duo of Charles Pic and Jean-Éric Vergne made their Formula One debut driving for Marussia, Ricciardo had never raced at his home Grand Prix. The first hour of the first practice session saw very little running, as the circuit was considered too wet for slick tyres, consequently, most drivers only completed installation laps in the first hour, before emerging later in the session once a dry line began to appear. With de la Rosas car not yet ready to take to the circuit, Jenson Button finished the session fastest, with a late lap from Lewis Hamilton enough for second, and Schumacher half a second slower in third. Reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel ultimately finished the session eleventh overall, the Scuderia Toro Rosso drivers were the first out, gathering data on the performance on wet tyres. A dry line began to appear after forty minutes, and it was Sergio Pérez who set the first representative time of the day. The final fifteen minutes of the session were dominated by running on the soft tyres. Several drivers, including Heikki Kovalainen, Mark Webber and Pastor Maldonado went off the circuit, but the session passed without interruption. Kamui Kobayashi spun at the corner and narrowly avoided the wall, whilst Narain Karthikeyan once again came to a halt on the circuit

2012 Australian Grand Prix
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Mark Webber came into his home Grand Prix hoping to finish higher than his personal best of fifth place.
2012 Australian Grand Prix
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2012 Australian Grand Prix
2012 Australian Grand Prix
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Marussia had not run either of their cars prior to the season; Charles Pic (pictured) made his first Formula One start in Australia.
2012 Australian Grand Prix
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Michael Schumacher spun off at Turn 9 in the final practice session.

33.
2012 Malaysian Grand Prix
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The 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 25 March 2012 at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia. It was the running of the Malaysian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the round of the 2012 Formula One season and was won by Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Sergio Pérez of the Sauber team finished the race in second position, by winning the race, Fernando Alonso took the lead in the Drivers Championship, having been fifth in the standings before the race. Lewis Hamilton moved up to second in the standings on 30 points,5 behind Alonso, Button dropped from the lead in standings to third, now 5 points behind Hamilton. Red Bull driver Mark Webber remained fourth, 1-point behind Button, as far as the Constructors Championship was concerned, McLaren still led, and had increased the gap to Red Bull to 13 points. Ferrari overtook Sauber to take third in the standings, and became 5 points ahead of them, Sergio Pérez achieved his best result and first ever podium finish. The Sauber team recorded their best ever result, Jean-Éric Vergne scored his first ever points in Formula One in his second race by finishing in eighth position. On the Thursday before the race the FIA rejected all claims that the system was illegal, Caterham driver Heikki Kovalainen was given a five-place grid penalty for the race for being in breach of Article 40.8 of the sporting regulations. Article 40.8, which governs procedures for restarts under the safety car, Kovalainen was penalised for passing two cars before he crossed this line during the Australian Grand Prix. Kimi Räikkönen was also given a grid penalty after his team changed the gearbox in his car after Friday practice. HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa expressed confidence that his team would qualify for the race, Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas replaced Bruno Senna for the first practice session on Friday morning. The race used a single DRS zone, unchanged from the 2011 race, with the point located on the back straight. Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver in the first practice session, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean finished the session fifth-fastest despite his car becoming stuck in seventh gear. Jenson Button was ninth overall, but was forced to end his session early after the team discovered an oil leak, Hamilton repeated his performance in the second session, setting a lap time one-tenth of a second slower than the time he posted in the first session. Michael Schumacher was second-fastest, with Jenson Button third, Bruno Senna returned to the cockpit after Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas completed the morning session in Sennas car, Senna placed nineteenth overall. After placing fifteenth in the first session, Fernando Alonso ended the day sixth-fastest, teammate Massa languished in sixteenth, considerably slower in the afternoon than he was in the morning. Both HRT drivers managed to improve their times by two seconds, to end the session five seconds adrift

34.
2012 Chinese Grand Prix
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The 2012 Chinese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 15 April 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China. It was the running of the Chinese Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. The 56-lap race was the round of the 2012 Formula One season. Rosberg became the first German driver to win a Grand Prix driving a German car in Formula 1 history, the win was also the first win for an official Mercedes-Benz team since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, after which Mercedes departed from Formula One for 55 seasons. Rosberg led home the McLaren pair of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton by over twenty seconds, the race itself was characterised by intense battling throughout the field and by high reliability with 23 of 24 starters finishing the race. This race was also HRTs thirty-ninth race start, setting the record for most Grand Prix starts without scoring a single point and this was the first race since the 2009 Italian Grand Prix that was not won by Red Bull, McLaren or Ferrari. On the Thursday before the race, Lotus F1 filed a formal protest against the front wing design, the stewards later unanimously rejected the protest and Lotus has since confirmed that they will not appeal against decision. On the Thursday before the race, McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was given a grid penalty after the team was forced to change his cars gearbox for the race. The FIA confirmed that the Drag Reduction System zone will be unchanged from 2011, with the point located at Turn 12. Qualifying for the race of the season began at 2 pm local time under cloudy and overcast conditions with an ambient temperature of 21 °C. The first session begun with Force India driver Paul di Resta posting the first timed lap of the session, other drivers followed soon after, all on the harder medium prime tyre. The difference between the medium and the compounds was predicted around 0.8 seconds per lap. Leaving their run late, eight minutes into the both the Red Bull and Mercedes cars had yet to post timed laps. Sebastian Vettels engineer was heard saying that the lap time he did of 1,36.9 would be enough to make Q2. With Felipe Massa in 16th after his run on the prime tyre and his teammate Fernando Alonso followed suit soon after. Surprisingly Jenson Button undertook a lap on the tyres during Q1 even though looking like comfortably progressing to Q2. At the end of the session, Jean-Éric Vergne, for the second consecutive race, in fact, all the eliminated cars in Q1 were in identical positions from the Malaysian Q1 qualifying session. Caterhams Heikki Kovalainen led teammate Vitaly Petrov and Timo Glock led the Marussias, while at the rear were the HRTs of Pedro de la Rosa, for the second session, the two Saubers and Kimi Räikkönen were first to set timed laps

35.
Shanghai International Circuit
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The Shanghai International Circuit is a motorsport race track, situated in the Jiading, Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China. The circuit is best known as the venue for the annual Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, the 2008 MotoGP race was the last one on this circuit, as the FIM didnt select the racetrack for the provisional calendar of 2009. This is due to overcrowding problems in the circuit, partly due to location of the circuit, areas around turns 1,8 and 14 have been sinking, and therefore the circuit had to be inspected before the 2011 event took place. The Chinese Grand Prix attracted 260,000 spectators in its year in 2004 with a slight 10,000 increase in 2005. On Feb 18,2011, Reuters reported words from the Chinese Grand Prix organizers said Shanghai has extended the deal to host the Chinese Grand Prix to 2018 despite falling attendance. Reuters reported words from Yiping Chen, deputy director of the Shanghai Sports Bureau, Reuters reported prices for prime seats range would decrease from 3, 580-3,980 yuan in 2010 to 1, 980-3,280 yuan in 2011. On the same day, AFP reported that the Shanghai City government will keep open a line to the race track to boost spectator numbers from April 15–17,2011. In common with other new Formula One circuits, it was designed by Hermann Tilke, and also features his trademark track feature. Current-generation F1 cars can easily surpass 300 km/h on the straight between corners 13 and 14. The track layout was inspired from the Chinese character shang the first character in the name of the city Shanghai, the whole circuit plus seating areas and other areas for spectators, covers a total area of 5.3 km². Turns 1 and 2 make up a very long right-hand curve which leads immediately into turns 3 and 4, One and two are far more difficult - a lift on entry followed by various taps of the throttle and brakes are needed so the car maintains balance throughout. It also becomes blind towards the middle of the corner, three and four are nowhere near as difficult but a good exit is needed to gain speed down the following straight and through turn 5. The complex of turns 1-4 makes up the first of two snails on the circuit, the other being turns 11-13, turn 6 is a second gear, right-handed hairpin with plentiful run-off. Turns 7 and 8 make up a high speed chicane - the left-right complex sees a constant G-force of 3, turns 9 and 10 immediately follow - two slow left-handers which require a good exit to gain speed down the next straight. Turns 11 and 12 effectively make up a slow left-right chicane where the use of kerbs are important, turn 13 is a very long right-hander which becomes less and less tight, and a very good exit is important as the longest straight currently in Formula One follows. The total length of the circuit is 5.451 km, the lap record was set by Ferraris Michael Schumacher in 2004. He completed one lap of the circuit in 1,32.238

Shanghai International Circuit
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Exterior of main grandstand
Shanghai International Circuit
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Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai International Circuit
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View from the main grandstand
Shanghai International Circuit
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Grandstand H & K

36.
Drag Reduction System
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The Drag Reduction System is a form of driver-adjustable bodywork aimed at reducing aerodynamic drag in order to increase top speed and promote overtaking in motor racing. It is a rear wing of the car, which moves in response to driver commands. DRS often comes with conditions, such as the car must be within a second for DRS to be activated. DRS was introduced in Formula One in 2011, the use of the DRS system is an exception to the rule banning any moving parts whose primary purpose is to affect the aerodynamics of the car. The system is used in the Formula Renault 3.5 since 2012. An adjustable wing was used by the Nissan DeltaWing at the 201224 Hours of Le Mans. In Formula One, the DRS opens an adjustable flap on the wing of the car to reduce drag, thus giving a pursuing car more speed. The FIA estimate the speed increase to be between 10–12 km/h by the end of the activation zone, when the flap is closed it creates more downforce giving better cornering. The device can only be used during a race once two racing laps have been completed, and when the car enters a designated activation zone defined by the FIA. In 2011, the FIA increased the number of DRS zones to two on some circuits featuring multiple long straights. In Valencia and in Montreal, two zones were endorsed on consecutive long straights, whilst in Monza and in Buddh, two zones were created on separate parts of the circuit. Two zones had originally planned for every race with multiple long straights from Montreal onwards. However, at the round of the 2011 season, two zones on consecutive long straights saw a return at Yas Marina. When usage of the DRS remained legal for the 2012 season, the horizontal elements of the rear wing consist of the main plane and the flap. The DRS allows the flap to lift a maximum of 50 mm from the main plane. This reduces opposition to airflow against the wing and results in less downforce, in the absence of significant lateral forces, less downforce allows faster acceleration and potential top speed, unless limited by the top gear ratio and engine rev limiter. Sam Michael, sporting director of the McLaren team, believes that DRS in qualifying will be worth half a second per lap. The effectiveness of the DRS will vary from track to track, the systems effectiveness was reviewed in 2011 to see if overtaking can be made easier, but not to the extent that driver skill is sidelined

Drag Reduction System
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DRS in action: open above, closed below

37.
Williams F1
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Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Martini Racing, is a British Formula One motor racing team and constructor. It was founded and is run by team owner Sir Frank Williams, the team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams two earlier unsuccessful F1 operations, Frank Williams Racing Cars and Wolf-Williams Racing. All of Williams F1 chassis are called FW then a number, Williams first race was the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, where the new team ran a March chassis for Patrick Nève. Williams started manufacturing its own cars the year, and Switzerlands Clay Regazzoni won Williams first race at the 1979 British Grand Prix. Williams won nine Constructors Championships between 1980 and 1997 and this stood as a record until Ferrari surpassed it in 2000. Each of these drivers, with the exception of Senna and Button, have captured one title with the team. Of those who have won the championship with Williams, only Jones, Rosberg, Williams have worked with many engine manufacturers, most successfully with Renault, Williams won five of their nine constructors titles with the French company. Williams F1 also has business interests beyond Formula One racing, in April 2014, Williams Hybrid Power were sold to GKN. Williams Advanced Engineering had a centre in Qatar until it was closed in 2014. Frank Williams started the current Williams team in 1977 after his previous outfit, Frank Williams Racing Cars, despite the promise of a new owner in the form of Canadian millionaire Walter Wolf, the team rebranded as Wolf-Williams Racing in 1976, the cars were not competitive. Eventually Williams left the rechristened Walter Wolf Racing and moved to Didcot to rebuild his team as Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Frank recruited young engineer Patrick Head to work for the team, creating the Williams-Head partnership. In February 2011, Williams F1 announced their intention to float via a public offering on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Swiss-based Bank am Bellevue AG will act as sole global co-ordinator of up to 27. 39% of existing shares, Sir Frank Williams will remain majority shareholder and team principal after the IPO. The shares are valued at between 24 and 29 euros, which values the Williams F1 team at 265 million euros. In February 2017 the shares are divided in this way, Frank Williams 52, 25%, Brad Hollinger 14, 75%, Patrick Head 9%, 20% on the market place. Williams entered a custom March 761 for the 1977 season, lone driver Patrick Nève appeared at 11 races that year, starting with the Spanish Grand Prix. The new team failed to score a point, achieving a best finish of 7th at the Italian Grand Prix, for the 1978 season, Patrick Head designed his first Williams car, the FW06. Williams signed Australian Alan Jones, who had won the Austrian Grand Prix the previous season for a devastated Shadow team following the death of their lead driver, Tom Pryce

Williams F1
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The Williams FW06 from 1978, being raced at Silverstone in 2007.
Williams F1
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Williams-Mercedes
Williams F1
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Keke Rosberg 's Williams FW08. This car was used during the 1982 season where Rosberg won the Drivers' Championship recording only a single win over the course of the season.
Williams F1
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Nigel Mansell 's Williams FW10. This car was used during the 1985 season.

38.
Pastor Maldonado
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Pastor Rafael Maldonado Motta is a Venezuelan racing driver, who competed in Formula One for the Williams and Lotus teams. Before entering Formula One, he won the 2010 GP2 Series championship and he became the first Venezuelan to win a Formula One Grand Prix when he won the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, for Williams, from his first pole position. Born in Maracay, Venezuela, Maldonados first experience of racing was in Italy in 2003. He competed in the Italian Formula Renault Championship with Cram Competition and his notable results included three podium finishes and one pole position. Cram Competition also entered one round of the German Formula Renault Championship at Oschersleben, in 2004, Maldonado ran a dual programme in Italian and Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup with Cram Competition. He won the Italian title, with eight wins and six pole positions from seventeen starts, in the European championship, he was classified eighth overall, with two wins. Maldonado also found the time to one round of the now defunct Formula Renault V6 Eurocup at Spa-Francorchamps. In November 2004, Maldonado was given an opportunity to test with the Minardi Formula One team at Misano in Italy, the teams former owner, Giancarlo Minardi, was present at the test and commented positively about Maldonados performance. In 2005, Maldonado progressed out of Formula Renault, but did not get the opportunity to complete a season in any one series. He made four starts in the Italian F3000 Championship with Sighinolfi Auto Racing and he also entered nine races in the Spanish-based World Series by Renault, with a best finish of seventh. However, his participation in the WSR was marred by a ban for dangerous driving. He failed to slow down at the scene of an accident at Monaco, despite the presence of warning flags, Maldonado secured a full-time drive in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Draco Racing in 2006. He was classified third overall, with three wins, six further podium finishes, and five pole positions. In a season that was marked by controversy Maldonado could have won the title were it not for a disqualification from first place at Misano for a technical infringement. Draco Racing lodged an appeal and the results of the championship remained provisional until Italys National Court of Appeal for Motorsport upheld the decision at a hearing in January 2007. The lost fifteen points would have enough to move him up from third to first in the standings, ahead of Alx Danielsson. Maldonados performances in FR3.5 were enough to attract the interest of GP2 teams and he took his first victory in only his fourth race in the series with a commanding win at Monaco. However, he had to miss the four rounds of the season after breaking a collarbone during training, leaving him outside the championship top 10

39.
Formula One regulations
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The numerous Formula One regulations, made and enforced by the FIA and later the FISA, have changed dramatically since the first Formula One World Championship in 1950. This article covers the current state of F1 technical and sporting regulations, wider cars from 180cm to 200cm and wider tires and more aerodynamic pressure to the ground expecting the cars go faster with 3-5 seconds per lap comparing to the 2015 regulations. All driver aid forbidden and the minimum weight 722kg without fuel, only 4 engines per season and car are allowed. This the regulations for F12014, an F1 car can be no more than 180 cm wide and 95 cm tall. The car must only have four wheels mounted externally of the work with only the front two steered and only the back two driven. There are minimum distances allowed between the wheels and the rear and front body work, the main chassis contains a safety cell which includes the cockpit, a structure designed to reduce impact directly in front of the cockpit, and the fuel cell directly behind the cockpit. Additionally, the car must contain roll structures behind and ahead of the driver, the driver must be able to enter and exit the cockpit without any adjustments other than removing the steering wheel. There are also mandatory crash test standards, the same chassis must then sustain a rear impact from a sled travelling at 30 mph, with no damage in front of the rear axle. The roll hoop is not permitted to crush beyond 50 mm, the steering wheel must survive the impact of an 8 kg 165 mm -diameter object at 7 m/s with no deformation of the wheel or damage to the quick-release mechanism. In addition, there are tests on the cockpit sides, fuel tank. The cockpit must survive a 25 kN pressure with no failure, a maximum 3 mm deformation is allowed. For the cockpit rim, the figures are 10 kN and 20 mm, the nosebox must withstand 40 kN for 30 seconds without failing. Onboard electrical and computer systems, once inspected at the start of the season, electronic starters and launch control are forbidden. The computers must contain an accident data reporting system. 2.4 litre V8 engines were used in 2013 season, however, the 2014 season brought a major change in engine technology by introducing the 1.6 litre turbocharged V6 engine. The power outputs of F1 engines have not been disclosed since the 1990s, the engine power are more than 1000 bhp and the engine must be capable to run around 3000km to fit the 2017 regulations with only 4 engines per season. The engine has to work at two Friday practice sessions one Saturday practice and three rounds of qualifications on Saturday and the 300km race at Sunday, after the engine is done as a race engine it will serve as a practice engine at the Friday sessions. Another radical change in 2014 was the introduction of ERS, the combination of these systems led to the term power unit being used in lieu of engine

Formula One regulations
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F1 start lights as seen by television viewers (camera facing drivers)
Formula One regulations
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All possible F1 start lights as seen by driver. Not all lights are on at any time

40.
Valtteri Bottas
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Valtteri Bottas is a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes. Bottas previously drove for Williams from 2013 to 2016 and his current best career achievement was in 2014 when he finished 4th in the Formula One World Championship. Born in Nastola, Finland, Bottas finished eighth in the 2005 Karting World Cup for the P. D. B, racing Team, using Gillard chassis and Parilla engines. Bottas won both the 2008 Formula Renault Eurocup and the 2008 Formula Renault Northern European Cup, in doing so, he repeated the feat of Filipe Albuquerque, who won both the NEC and Eurocup in the same season, in 2006. Bottas would have won the 2007 Formula Renault UK Winter Series, had he been holding an MSA-registered licence for the championship. This did however not stop him from competing, and he won three out of the four races in the championship and he moved up into the Formula Three Euroseries for the 2009 season, competing for reigning champions ART Grand Prix. Despite not winning a race, Bottas set two pole positions on his way to third in the championship, edging out Alexander Sims at the final race. In June 2009, Bottas won the 2009 Masters of Formula 3, also claiming the pole position, by winning the event again in 2010, he became the first driver to win the F3 Masters title for the second time. After a tough start to the season, he claimed a win in each of the last four race weekends, Bottas returned to racing in 2013, as he was confirmed as teammate to Pastor Maldonado at Williams for the 2013 season on 28 November 2012. On 8 June 2013, Bottas qualified in 3rd position at the Canadian Grand Prix behind Sebastian Vettel and he scored his first points finish at the United States Grand Prix by finishing 8th. This result allowed Bottas to finish ahead of Maldonado in the Drivers Championship, on 11 November 2013 Bottas was confirmed to continue with Williams in 2014 alongside Felipe Massa, who was signed from Ferrari to replace Pastor Maldonado. At the first race of the 2014 season in Australia, Bottas qualified 10th and finished 6th and he was later promoted to 5th after Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from 2nd position. At the Austrian Grand Prix, Bottas qualified 2nd, his best grid position in Formula One, at the German Grand Prix, he qualified second and ended the race in the same position despite a late challenge from Hamilton. After achieving three podiums in Belgium, Russia and Abu Dhabi, Bottas finished 4th overall in the championship, beating the likes of former world champions Sebastian Vettel. In September 2014, it was announced that Bottas and Massa would retain their drives with Williams for the 2015 season, at the opening race of the season in Australia, Bottas qualified sixth for the race, but injured his back during qualifying. He was taken to The Alfred Hospital for precautionary checks, where he was diagnosed with soft tissue damage to his lower back, both Bottas and Williams season didnt live up to their hopes. Williams lost out in the development war to Ferrari over the winter, Bottas achieved two podium finishes across the 2015 season. The second podium of the came in Mexico behind the Mercedes duo

41.
Bruno Senna
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Bruno Senna Lalli is a Brazilian professional racing driver currently racing for Aston Martin in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion, Senna raced in Formula One from 2010–12. He made his driving for Hispania Racing in 2010, raced for Renault from August 2011 as a replacement for Nick Heidfeld. Between 2014–16, he drove for Mahindra Racing in Formula E and his mother is Ayrtons older sister, Viviane. His father, Flávio Lalli, died in a crash in 1996. The colour scheme of Brunos helmet is a modified version of that used by his uncle Ayrton Senna. Born in São Paulo, he was first taught the skills of racing by his grandfather Milton da Silva at the age of five. Bruno raced go-karts against Ayrton on the farm, and Ayrton regarded his nephews potential very highly. When leaving McLaren at the end of 1993, Ayrton said, Ayrtons death while driving a Williams at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, however, brought Brunos own racing career to an abrupt halt. Despite these setbacks including the death of his father in a accident in 1996. At Imola in 2004, however, on the 10th anniversary of his uncles death, Senna drove the car at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix meeting in São Paulo, at Interlagos, where Ayrton had won in 1991 and 1993. Ayrtons McLaren team mate from 1990 to 1992, Gerhard Berger is a friend of the Senna family and has advised Senna on his career. Sennas sister, Bianca, meanwhile, has managed his affairs, in 2004, Bruno competed in six races of the Formula BMW UK series for Carlin Motorsport, scoring six points. His results included three podium finishes in the last seven races of the season, as he finished tenth in the final standings, in 2006 he stayed with the team and finished third in the series standings behind champion and teammate Mike Conway and Oliver Jarvis, taking five victories. He won the two races of the series at Oulton Park in the wet. He again won the first race at Donington Park and then won the race at Mugello in Italy. Senna had a crash during the first race of round five of the series at Snetterton. On lap 2, he and Hitech Racings Salvador Durán clashed wheels on the Revett Straight at nearly 150 mph, Sennas car took off just before the bridge, and may have even clipped it, while cartwheeling through the air

42.
Force India
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The Sahara Force India F1 Team is a Formula One racing team based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 2007 when a consortium led by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya, Force India scored points again in the following race when Adrian Sutil finished fourth, and set the teams first fastest lap, at the Italian Grand Prix. In October 2011, Indian company Sahara India Pariwar, purchased 42. 5% of Force India F1s shares at US$100 million, the teams origins stemmed from the Jordan Grand Prix team, which entered Formula One racing in 1991 based at the Silverstone racing circuit. Jordan enjoyed many years in Formula One, winning four races, however, like many of the smaller teams in the 2000s, financial problems meant the teams performance dried up, and team owner Eddie Jordan sold the team to the Midland Group in 2005. The renamed Midland F1 Racing team spent two seasons at the back of grid, before owner Alex Shnaider sold the team to Spyker Cars midway through the 2006 season. After retaining Adrian Sutil for the teams first season, Force India conducted winter tests for the second driver, testing of the car begun in February, after the gold, tungsten and white liveried car was launched at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. Although a furious Gascoyne called for Räikkönen to be penalised, overtakes under yellow flag conditions would have meant Sutil receiving a time penalty post-race, Force India had been focusing on 2009 since Mallya brought the team, believing that the new regulations would yield better results. Force India finished the tenth place in the Constructors Championship. Force India retained the same drivers for the 2009 season, Force India gained their first pole position in Formula One when Fisichella qualified fastest at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa. He finished the race in second position, less than a second behind Kimi Räikkönen earning Force Indias first ever points, missing the win was partially blamed on the cars lack of KERS, a system present on the Ferrari. On 3 September 2009, Force India announced that they were releasing Fisichella from his contract to him to race for Ferrari for the remainder of the season. It was announced four days later that test driver Vitantonio Liuzzi would replace Fisichella for the remaining races, in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Sutil qualified second and Liuzzi, on his race debut for the team, qualified seventh. On race day, Sutil finished fourth and clocked the fastest lap of the race, while running fourth in the race, Liuzzi had to retire due to a transmission failure. Force India finished the season ninth in front of Scuderia Toro Rosso with 13 points, however, the VJM02 was powered by Mercedes-Benz engines from the 2009 season after signing a five-year deal on 10 November 2008. The deal also included a supply of McLaren-Mercedes gearboxes, hydraulic systems, the car was revealed on 1 March 2009. The VJM02 was the first Force India car to pick up points, pole position and fastest lap at the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix, the team announced on 27 November 2009, that it was to keep Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi for the 2010 season. The team tested Paul di Resta and J. R. Hildebrand at Jerez, di Resta was confirmed as the teams test driver on 2 February 2010. On 9 February 2010, Force India unveiled their new car, the VJM03, the 2010 season began with points in Bahrain, with Liuzzi finishing in ninth position

43.
Paul di Resta
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Paul di Resta is a British racing driver who drove in Formula One from 2010 to 2013 and became a reserve driver for the Williams F1 team in 2016. A former DTM and Formula 3 Euroseries champion, di Resta did not secure a Formula One drive for 2014, di Resta was born in Uphall, Livingston, Scotland, and grew up in Bathgate, West Lothian, and went to Bathgate Academy. He now lives in Monaco, and is a cousin of racing drivers Dario and his step-father was Scottish footballer Dougie McCracken. His younger brother, Stefan, has raced at an amateur level, di Resta and Laura Jordan became engaged in December 2013 and married on 28 August 2014. He started his career in karting, racing in various series of karts from 1994 until 2002. In 2001 he won the British JICA Championship and he stepped up to single-seaters at the end of 2002, when he competed in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. He raced in British Formula Renault full-time in 2003 with the Eurotek Motorsport team and he switched to Manor Motorsport for 2004, finishing third in the championship standings with four wins. He also entered some races of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the Manor team and he also won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of The Year Award in 2004. The award had been won by his cousin Dario Franchitti in 1992, di Resta switched to the Formula Three Euroseries with Manor Motorsport in 2005, finishing tenth in the standings. For 2006 he moved to the ASM Formule 3 team, winning the championship with five wins, beating team mate and future Formula One World Drivers Champion, di Resta also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Circuit Park Zandvoort. In 2007, di Resta switched from single-seaters to race in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters touring car racing series, in the championship, he finished 5th overall behind drivers Mattias Ekstrom, Bruno Spengler, Martin Tomczyk and Jamie Green. Di Resta was the highest driver in the standings to drive a non-2007 car and his performances earned him a 2008 Mercedes C Klasse for the 2008 season, in which he won two races and finishing second in the points, four points behind eventual champion Timo Scheider of Audi. In 2009, he finished third overall, behind Scheider and compatriot Gary Paffett, in 2010, he won three races in a row on the way to winning the championship. Di Resta tested for the McLaren Formula One team, and was in the frame for a drive with the Force India team for the 2009 season due to the teams shared engine supplier, Mercedes-Benz. However, Force India chose to retain Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, with Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver. In December 2009, with Fisichella having moved to Ferrari and Liuzzi being promoted to the race team, at the Autosport International show in January 2010, he was said to be close to a deal as the teams test and reserve driver for the 2010 season. The deal was announced on 2 February. Di Resta made his Formula One race meeting début at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix and he drove in the first practice sessions of all the following races until Monaco Grand Prix, where he did not take part

44.
GP2 Series
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The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, in 2010 the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series. In the 2017 the series was rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship, many drivers have used GP2 as a stepping stone into Formula One. 2009 GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg moved up to a Williams F1 race driver in the 2010 Formula 1 season, in addition, Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Lucas di Grassi —all runners up— became Renault test drivers the following year. All three earned F1 seats, but have since been replaced, karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov were also granted an F1 seat in 2010. For 2011 Pastor Maldonado was granted the hot seat at Williams and this meant that Nico Hülkenberg was deposed by Williams. Sergio Pérez was given the drive alongside Kamui Kobayashi, another former GP2 driver and GP2 Asia Series winner, jérôme dAmbrosio got his Virgin Racing drive for the 2011 season. However, some drivers have reached Formula One without competing in GP2, for example Paul di Resta, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne, Valtteri Bottas, and Kevin Magnussen. During 2011, it was announced that in 2012 the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series would combine to make a single, current Formula One drivers that have come from GP2 racing include Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean, Stoffel Vandoorne, Jolyon Palmer and several more. At the end of the 2016 season, nine of the champions were able to secure a seat in Formula 1. On Friday, drivers had a 45-minute free practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session, the qualifying session decides the grid order for Saturdays race which has a length of 180 kilometres. During Saturdays race, each driver has to make a pit stop in which at least two tyres have to be changed, on Sunday there is a sprint race of 120 kilometres. The grid was decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday have started from pole position, 2005–2011 Pole for Saturday races,2 points Fastest lap,1 point in each race. Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps, the driver must now also start the race from his allocated grid position and as of 2008 must finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap point. With this points system, the most number of points anyone can score in one round is 20 by claiming pole position, 2012-2016 From the 2012 season the GP2 series changed its scoring system. Therefore, the number of points a driver can score at any round will be 48. Overall weight is 688 kg including driver, the 2011 specification GP2 Series car has been designed by Dallara Automobili. The 2006 GP2 car featured a rear wing, with the triplane rear wing used in previous seasons only to be used at the Monaco race

GP2 Series
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GP2 Series

45.
Narain Karthikeyan
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Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan is a racing driver who was the first Formula One driver from India. He has previously competed in A1GP, and the Le Mans Series and he made his Formula One debut in 2005 with the Jordan team, and was a Williams F1 test driver in 2006 and 2007. Like several other former F1 drivers, Karthikeyan moved to car racing. In 2011 he returned to F1 with the HRT team, continued with the team in 2012 and was expected to drive for them in the 2013 season as well. However, HRT was not included in the FIAs 2013 entry list, in 2013, Karthikeyan raced in the Auto GP series, securing 5 wins and 4 pole positions with Super Nova Racing. For 2014, Karthikeyan has signed up with Team Impul, to race in the Japanese Super Formula series, the Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2010. Karthikeyan was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Mr Kakarla Karthikeyan Naidu, the family runs the famous PSG institutions. Karthikeyan did his schooling at Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, Karthikeyans interest in motorsport began at an early age, as his father was a former Indian national rally champion winning South India Rally seven times. He is also related to the late S. Karivardhan Naidu, with the ambition of becoming Indias first Formula One driver, Karthikeyan finished on the podium in his first ever race, at Sriperumpudur in a Formula Maruti. He then went on to the Elf Winfield Racing School in France and he returned to India to race in Formula Maruti for the 1993 season, and in the same year, he also competed in the Formula Vauxhall Junior championship in Great Britain. This gave him experience in European racing, and he was keen to return for the following year. In 1994, he returned to the UK, racing in the Formula Ford Zetec series as the two works Vector driver for the Foundation Racing team. The highlight of the season was a finish in a support race for the Portuguese Grand Prix held at Estoril. Karthikeyan also took part in the British Formula Ford Winter Series, in 1995, Karthikeyan graduated to the Formula Asia Championship for just four races. However, he showed pace immediately and was able to finish second in the race at Shah Alam, in 1996, he had a full season in the series and became the first Indian and the first Asian to win the Formula Asia International series. In 1998, Karthikeyan made his debut in the British Formula 3 Championship with the Carlin Motorsport team, competing in only 10 rounds, he managed two third-place finishes in the final two races of the season, at Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, to finish 12th overall. He continued in the championship for 1999, finishing on the five times. His season also included two pole positions, three fastest laps and two lap records, helping him to sixth in the championship and he also competed in the Macau Grand Prix, qualifying in sixth position and finishing sixth in the second race

46.
Vitaly Petrov
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Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Caterham in 2012 and Renault in 2010 and 2011. Born in Vyborg, he is known as the Vyborg Rocket in Russia and he was the first Russian to have competed in the Formula One World Championship. Unlike most top drivers, Petrov did not begin his career in karting and he began competing in motorsport in 1998, when he took part in rally sprints and ice races. Afterwards he began competing in the Russian Lada Cup in 2001 and he remained in the series for 2002 dominating the championship, winning each round to amass the maximum points total of 500. In 2003, Petrov began racing in the Formula Renault championships and his main campaign was in the Italian Formula Renault Championship for Euronova Racing, finishing 19th overall. He also made his debut in Euro Formula 3000 at Cagliari, in 2004, Petrov turned his attention to the inaugural season of the Russian Lada Revolution championship. He started every race from pole position, but finished as runner-up and he also made selected appearances in Formula Renault and Euro F3000. Petrov remained in Russia for 2005, winning the Lada Revolution Championship with ten wins, in 2006, Petrov raced in Euroseries 3000 with Euronova Racing. He finished third in the standings, scoring nine podiums in eighteen races including four wins at Hungaroring, Mugello Circuit, also he participated in the Brno round of the 2006 F3000 International Masters season, where he took a pole position. During the 2006 season Petrov made his debut in the GP2 Series for David Price Racing and he replaced French driver Olivier Pla, who lost his sponsorship from Direxiv in the team from the German round onwards. In 2007 he moved to Campos Grand Prix, where he joined Giorgio Pantano and he scored five point-scoring positions from 21 races and took his first victory at Valencia on his way to finishing 13th in the standings. He competed in several Le Mans Series races throughout the year, the car completed 198 laps before retiring from the race, being classified in 38th. Petrov finished in position with one win at Sepang International Circuit in the 2008 GP2 Asia Series season for Campos, behind champion Romain Grosjean. In the main series Petrov remained with the Campos team and he finished seventh in final standings, taking a win at the Valencia Street Circuit. He finished fifth, with a win in the Sepang sprint race, Petrov was linked to joining Sauber, Renault F1 and Campos for the 2010 season. He was announced as a Renault driver on 31 January and thus he has become the first Russian driver in the Formula One World Championship and he was signed for a one-year deal, with an option for a further two. He was very close to signing for Campos but he felt Renault was the best option for him and he also mentioned that he had no major sponsors from Russia backing him just his dad and some of his friends. Petrov stated that his goal is to start scoring points by mid-season and his teammate for his debut season was Robert Kubica, who like Petrov – who stands at 185 cm tall – is one of the tallest drivers on the grid

47.
Timo Glock
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Timo Glock is a German BMW factory racing driver, who previously drove in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers Championship in both 2008 and 2009, scoring three podium finishes, born in Lindenfels, West Germany, Glock began his motorsport career in 1998 at the age of 15. He won several karting championships as well as the BMW ADAC Formula Junior Cup in 2000, in his first German Formula Three Championship season in 2002, he finished third in the standings en route to rookie of the year honours. In 2003, he competed in the Formula Three Euroseries, winning three races and scoring three podium finishes, which were enough to place him in fifth position in the Championship. He finished 11th, but inherited 7th following the disqualification of the Williams and Toyota cars and he finished the season with Jordan, taking over from Pantano for the last three races. Glocks sponsorship with Deutsche Post helped bring back the colours of DHL to Jordan, in 2005, Glock shifted his career to the United States, racing in the Champ Car World Series with Paul Gentilozzis Rocketsports team. His best finish was second place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at the Molson Indy Montreal in Canada, in the closing laps of the race Glock twice retained the lead over Servia by missing the tracks final chicane. As the rules require drivers who gain or retain a position by driving off the surface to give way, Glock was asked to move over by Champ Car officials. Glock obliged midway through the lap, giving him enough time to try to take the lead back. Glock finished 8th in the season points standings and won the Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year award. In 2006, Glock raced in Europe in the GP2 Series and he started with the midfield BCN Competicion team, gaining average results. In 2006 he tested an F1 car again for BMW Sauber, Glock was also re-signed for 2007 by iSport and won one feature race and four sprint races on his way to the championship. Following the serious crash of regular Formula One BMW driver Robert Kubica in Canada, however, the team instead chose its lead test driver Sebastian Vettel. After winning the GP2 Series in 2007, Glock was connected to several F1 teams and he signed a contract with Toyota F1, though still under a test driver contract with BMW, which led to the dispute being brought before the Contract Recognition Board. In November, the CRB ruled that Glock was free to race for Toyota in 2008 and he scored his first points of 2008 in the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing 4th ahead of Felipe Massas Ferrari. Glock qualified a career-best fifth at the Hungarian Grand Prix, at the Singapore Grand Prix, Glock finished 4th, one of his best of the season. Starting the final lap, Glock was fourth, but he was passed by Toro Rossos Sebastian Vettel, hamiltons pass on Glock was enough for him to win the 2008 Drivers Championship. Glock finished the race in sixth and the championship in tenth position, with 25 points,2009 started well enough for Glock

48.
Daniel Ricciardo
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Daniel Ricciardo is an Australian racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. He won the British Formula 3 Championship in 2009, after Mark Webber announced his retirement from Formula One, Ricciardo was confirmed as his replacement at Red Bull Racing for 2014. In his first season with Red Bull, Ricciardo finished third in the championship with his first three Formula One wins, in Canada, Hungary, and Belgium and his father was born in Ficarra, Sicily, but moved to Australia when he was seven. His mother was born in Australia, to Italian parents from Calabria, growing up in Duncraig in Perths northern suburbs, his earliest memories of motorsport are of being held by his mother to watch his father race at the nearby Barbagallo Raceway in Wanneroo. Ricciardo pronounces his name Ricardo instead of the Italian pronunciation Rit-char-do and he is also referred to as The Honey Badger. When asked why, he said Its supposed to be the most fearless animal in the animal kingdom and he wears an image of a honey badger on the back of his helmet. Ricciardo supports the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League, born in Perth, Western Australia, Ricciardo started karting at the age of nine, as a member of the Tiger Kart Club and entered numerous karting events. In 2005, he entered the Western Australian Formula Ford championship driving a 15-year-old Van Diemen, the following year, however, he won a scholarship into the Formula BMW Asian championship with Eurasia Motorsport. During his début season, Ricciardo took two victories and also achieved a position at Zhuhai. He finished third in the Drivers Championship with 231 points,59 points behind the champion Earl Bamber, in August that year, he was given an outing with Motaworld Racing to race one of their Formula BMW cars at the eighth meeting of the British championship. Despite retiring from the first race, Ricciardo recovered to eighth in the second race. At the end of the year, he entered the Formula BMW World Final with Fortec Motorsport where he finished in fifth position, fourteen seconds off winner Christian Vietoris. He finished the seventh in the Italian series with 196 points and scoring a single podium at Valencia. Ricciardo stayed in Formula Renault for a year in 2008, entering the European. By the end of the year, the driver took his first European title in the Western European Cup. During the mid-part of the 2008 season, Ricciardo made his Formula Three début at the Nürburgring, entering SG Formulas Formula 3 Euro Series team, Ricciardo moved to the British Formula 3 Championship for the 2009 season driving for Carlin Motorsport. He also made his debut in the 3. 5-litre World Series by Renault championship and he retired from the first race, before finishing fifteenth in the second. When he returned to Formula Three, he extended his lead to 45 points before returning to the Portuguese circuit

49.
Michael Schumacher
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Michael Schumacher is a German retired racing driver. He is a seven-time Formula One World Champion and is regarded as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year twice and he won two titles with Benetton in 1994 and 1995 before moving to Ferrari where he drove for eleven years. His time with Ferrari yielded five consecutive titles between 2000 and 2004, Schumacher holds many of Formula Ones driver records, including most championships, race victories, fastest laps, pole positions and races won in a single season –13 in 2004. In 2002, he became the driver in Formula One history to finish in the top three in every race of a season and then also broke the record for most consecutive podium finishes. According to the official Formula One website, he is statistically the greatest driver the sport has ever seen, after beginning in karting, Schumacher won the German drivers championships in Formula König and Formula Three before joining Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship. In 1991, his Mercedes-funded race debut for the Jordan Formula One team resulted in Schumacher being signed by Benetton Formula One team as their driver for the rest of that season. Establishing himself as a top driver, finishing third in 1992 and fourth in 1993, in 1995 he repeated the success, this time with a greater margin. Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996, Schumacher came close to winning the 1997 and 1998 titles, before breaking his leg at the 1999 British Grand Prix, ending another title run. Things then came good for Schumacher who won five consecutive drivers titles from 2000 to 2004. Schumacher retired from Formula One driving in 2006 staying with Ferrari as an advisor and he came close to an eighth title that year, but due to technical problems in the final two races he fell short to Fernando Alonso. Schumacher agreed to return for Ferrari part-way through 2009, as cover for the badly injured Felipe Massa, Schumacher returned to Formula One on a permanent basis from 2010 with the Mercedes team before retiring for a second time at the conclusion of the 2012 season. Off the track, Schumacher is an ambassador for UNESCO and a spokesman for driver safety and he has been involved in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life and donated tens of millions of dollars to charity. In December 2013, Schumacher suffered a head injury while skiing. He was airlifted to a hospital and placed in an induced coma. He was in the coma for six months from 29 December 2013 until 16 June 2014 and he left the hospital in Grenoble for further rehabilitation at the University Hospital in Lausanne. On 9 September 2014, Schumacher was relocated to his home where he continues to receive medical treatment, Schumacher was born in Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, to Rolf Schumacher, a bricklayer, and his wife Elisabeth. When Schumacher was four, his father modified his pedal kart by adding a small motorcycle engine, when Schumacher crashed it into a lamp post in Kerpen, his parents took him to the karting track at Kerpen-Horrem, where he became the youngest member of the karting club